A Franklin County jury found a former Columbus police officer guilty of murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man.
Adam Coy, 48, was charged with murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide in the Dec. 22, 2020, death of 47-year-old Andre Hill. The jury found him guilty of all charges.
The conviction marks the first time a Columbus police officer has been found guilty of murder for a death that occurred in the line of duty. Coy and his defense attorneys insisted he believed his life was in danger when he shot and killed Hill.
Prosecutors moved to sentence Coy immediately. He faces a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison. The defense countered that it needed time to prepare and noted that Coy, who is undergoing cancer treatment, required medication.
The judge ultimately scheduled sentencing for Nov. 25.
The jury began its deliberations around 10 a.m. Thursday after hearing five days of testimony, as well as opening statements and closing arguments and visiting the area of Oberlin Drive where the shooting occurred. Jurors deliberated for about nine and a half hours on Thursday and Friday before resuming deliberations around 9:15 a.m. Monday.
A stream of the jury’s verdict is embedded at the top of this post.
Jury’s pondering whether Adam Coy’s shooting of Andre Hill was “reasonable”
Jurors heard from 10 witnesses over five days and visited the Oberlin Drive shooting scene. Deliberations began at about 9:50 a.m. Thursday. Jurors spent about 11 hours considering the evidence before announcing Monday morning that it had reached a verdict.
Coy went to Oberlin Drive around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, after a neighbor had called Columbus police about a silver SUV parker there that had been running on and off for about three hours.
Coy arrived and spoke with the SUV driver, now known to be Hill. Evidence in the case showed Hill had shown Coy a cellphone and said he was waiting on someone. Coy testified he saw Hill walk up to the door of a neighboring home on Oberlin and knock on the door with no response from inside. Hill walked back to the SUV, rummaged inside, and returned to the front door, knocking again with no response.
Coy told the jury that when another officer, Amy Detweiler, arrived on the scene, Coy told her that the situation seemed off, and the two approached the home.
Evidence from the trial showed the officers saw Hill inside the open garage, which had no lights on, and Coy told Hill to come out and show himself.
Coy yelled, “Gun, gun, he has a gun!” before drawing his firearm and firing at Hill four times. Coy testified he saw silver metal in Hill’s right hand while Hill had his left hand up with a cellphone in it.
The metal was Hill’s key ring. He was unarmed.
Coy did not have his body camera on at the time of the shooting, but his camera caught the shooting with no audio through a 60-second look-back feature.
Columbus police fired Coy less than a week after the shooting.
Jurors in the case did not hear evidence or see body camera footage about how officers, including Coy, did not provide Hill any medical aid for about 10 minutes because Coy was not facing any charges related to what happened after the shooting.
After the shooting, Columbus City Council passed Andre’s Law, requiring officers to provide medical aid. Columbus also enhanced police officers’ body cameras, including a two-minute look-back feature that captures audio and video. The city agreed to pay Hill’s family $10 million in a civil settlement.
This is a developing story and has been updated.
bbruner@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ex-Columbus police officer Adam Coy guilty of murdering Andre Hill
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