Judge Gives Former Officer 12 Years in Death of Veteran

Unarmed victim had been diagnosed with PTSD
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 1, 2019 4:50 PM CDT
Judge Gives Former Officer 12 Years in Death of Veteran
Prosecutors had sought a longer prison term for former DeKalb County Police Officer Robert Olsen.   (AP Photo/Branden Camp, File)

A former Georgia police officer convicted of aggravated assault and other crimes in the fatal shooting of an unarmed, naked man was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison. Robert Olsen was responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically outside an Atlanta-area apartment complex in March 2015 when he shot 26-year-old Anthony Hill, an Air Force veteran who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD. Olsen was convicted of one count of aggravated assault, two counts of violating his oath of office and one count of making a false statement. Jurors acquitted him on two counts of felony murder.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson sentenced Olsen to a total of 20 years, the AP reports, with 12 years to serve, followed by eight years' probation. Prosecutors had sought a 25-year sentence with five years' probation, per CNN. Hill's mother, father and sister addressed the court before sentencing. His father said Olsen never looked him in the eye with remorse. His mother, Carolyn Baylor Giummo, said: "The decision Robert Olsen made that day changed my life forever. It was the worst day of my life." Olsen did not address the court and left the courtroom with deputies after sentencing.

(More police shooting stories.)

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