Prosecutors seek more charges in 11th Circuit against officers who shot Black man 76 times

ATLANTA (CN) — Georgia prosecutors asked a federal appeals court Monday for a limited remand to state court in order to bring additional charges against two law enforcement officers facing felony murder counts.

Before the 11th Circuit, state prosecutors argued that a lower court’s order denying their request prevented them from obtaining a superseding indictment. Because the officers were part of a federal task force at the time and were acting “under color of federal and not state law,” the case was removed from Fulton County to federal court.

Eric Heinze and Kristopher Hutchens face charges from their participation in a U.S. Marshals task force that entered an apartment and fired more than 90 times at Jamarion Robinson, whom they were attempting to arrest, in August 2016.

The 26-year-old Black man was killed, his body riddled with 76 bullet wounds, sparking a civil rights investigation into whether the officers’ excessive gun fire was beyond reasonable.

Prosecutors want to replace the false statement counts against the officers with conspiracy counts and bring additional malice and felony murder counts.

The false statement charges relate to statements the officers made to Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents and claims that they ceased fire after a stun grenade exploded — which was later disputed by a bystander’s video.

However, the circuit judges told attorney Ruth Pawlak there is nothing in the order stopping them from seeking a new indictment, and a limited remand is not required to do so.

“Its not in state court. But that doesn’t mean the entire state court is enjoined from doing anything related to this case,” said U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Luck, a Donald Trump appointee.

Even attorneys representing the defendants agreed with the circuit judge panel’s interpretation of the law. But they argued that the state should have sought the additional charges sooner, as U.S. Northern District Judge Victoria Calvert expressed in her denial.

“They cannot interfere with the timing of the court,” argued Lance LoRuss, the officers’ attorney.

Despite the state waiting until roughly three weeks before a scheduled evidentiary hearing to file its motion, the circuit judges expressed confidence in the state’s ability to seek a new indictment at any time before trial, and said prosecutors don’t need the judge’s permission to do so.

U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa said the state could’ve shown up to the hearing and told the judge they have a superseding indictment.

The circuit judges also noted that even if the state secures a new indictment, the case will still be removed to federal court, where the officers will still have the same federal immunity defense against the added charges.

Calvert already held a hearing on the two officers’ immunity claims that concluded on June 22, 2023.

“We would’ve been in the same boat,” Luck said.

The three-judge circuit panel was made up entirely of Trump appointees and rounded out by U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch.

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Heinze and Hutchens in October 2021, charging them with two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary in the first degree, false statement and violation of oath by public officer.

Daniel Doyle, the third task force member who opened fire that day, died of cancer in March 2020 and was never charged.

Heinze and Hutchens were both officers with the United States Marshal Service’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force when they attempted to arrest Robinson while he was inside a friend’s apartment over eight years ago.

The warrant was issued after officers said Robinson pointed a gun and fired at them while they attempted to confront him at the friend’s apartment complex. They had received concerns from Robinson’s mother over her son’s whereabouts and mental state. His mother said she had informed police a month earlier that her son had poured gasoline on part of the floors in her home, and that he was hospitalized for paranoid schizophrenia but had been unmedicated since his release at the beginning of the year.

When the task force of 16 officers from local law enforcement agencies forcibly entered the apartment after receiving information that Robinson was inside, he appeared at the top of the stairs and fired at least two rounds toward the officers before he was killed, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

State prosecutors contend the two task force members used excessive force that day, pointing to a neighbor’s cellphone video in which three shots can be heard after witnesses said Robinson lost consciousness and no longer posed a threat.

In June, the 11th Circuit upheld the dismissal of an excessive force claim for money damages brought by Robinson’s mother, due to the existence of alternative remedies and administrative processes to deter unconstitutional acts by task force officers.

Monteria Robinson also started a foundation in her son’s name with the intent to offer resources to families with mental health challenges and advocate for new police approaches to mental health concerns.

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