Prosecutors have requested a federal appeals court to send a murder case back to the state level. Their aim is to obtain a limited remand so that they can bring forth additional charges against two Georgia police officers. These officers are accused of shooting a schizophrenic Black man over 75 times.
According to authorities, Officers Eric Heinze and Kristopher Hutchens were members of a 16-person U.S. Marshals task force tasked with carrying out an arrest warrant for 26-year-old Jamarion Robinson at an apartment in Atlanta in August 2016.
According to WXIA-TV, Robinson allegedly poured gasoline on the floor of his mother’s home and pointed a gun at officers when confronted at a friend’s apartment.
The mother had previously alerted the police about her son’s schizophrenia, but he was not taking any medication for it.
Robinson was at his girlfriend’s house when task force members forced their way inside. He fired two shots at officers, who responded with more than 90 rounds, 75 of which killed Robinson, according to the postmortem report, Law&Crime reported.
A grand jury indicted Heinze and Hutchens on two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, first-degree burglary, making a false statement, and violating an oath as a public servant.
The outlet reports that an additional charge of making a false statement led to Hutchens’ indictment.
State prosecutors argued before the 11th Circuit on Monday that conspiracy charges, along with additional malice and criminal murder counts, should replace the false statement allegations.
The officers’ request for a superseding indictment was denied by a lower court, as they were considered to be acting under federal law rather than state law, as reported by Courthouse News Service.
The panel of judges unanimously agreed that even if the prosecutors manage to obtain the superseding indictment, the case will ultimately be brought before a federal court. In this scenario, both Heinze and Hutchens will be protected by federal immunity against the additional charges, as reported by the outlet.