Biden Judge to Decide If 2 White Cops are Immune for Murdering Black College Student They Shot 76X. Prosecutor says Cops/Marshal ‘Shot Jamarion Robinson to Bits’ at Close Range after Warrantless Entry
/From [HERE] A Black federal judge held a hearing Thursday to determine if two officers who fatally shot a 26-year-old Black man are immune from state prosecution.
Police officers Eric Heinze and Kristopher Hutchens were charged with felony murder, burglary, aggravated assault and making false statements in connection with the shooting in 2016.
Robinson, a Black Tuskeegee University student with no criminal record was killed when at least 14 members of a Fugitive Taskforce from at least seven different agencies forced their way into his girlfriend’s apartment to serve a warrant for his arrest.
The warrant was being served on behalf of the Gwinnett County police and the Atlanta Police Department, and authorities said they had sought his arrest after he pointed a gun at police during a previous encounter.
However, prosecutors claim the officers violated the Fourth Amendment by entering the residence because they did not obtain a warrant to do so.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) claimed that Robinson had been repeatedly ordered to put down a weapon and that officers who had been involved in the shooting reported Robinson fired at them three times.
According to the complaint in the civil case:
On August 5, 2016, at approximately 12:30, seven or more members of the Task Force, including the Defendant-Officers, met at a church near Washington Road and Interstate 285 in Atlanta for the purpose of receiving information about serving an arrest warrant on decedent Jamarion Robinson at 3129 Candlewood Drive in Atlanta. Among other things, Steve O'Hare “relayed…ROBINSON’S mental health history” to the defendant officers in attendance. Approximately an hour after the meeting in the church the Defendant-Officers moved from the church near Washington Road and Interstate 285 to positions around and in front of 3129 Candlewood Drive. One or more of the Defendant-Officers pounded loudly on the front door of 3129 Candlewood Drive multiple times. Then one or more Defendant-Officers broke down the front door and, without cause or provocation by Jamarion Robinson, began “spraying” bullets around the interior of 3129 Candlewood Drive with one or more H&K 9 mm submachine guns, one or more H&K .40 mm submachine guns, and one or more Glock .40 pistols.
When one or more of the Defendant-Officers began “spraying” bullets around the interior of 3129 Candlewood Drive, they did not know how many people were in the building. Fifty-nine bullets or more from the sub-machine guns and Glocks of the Defendant Officers entered the body of Jamarion Robinson, killing him. After killing Jamarion Robinson, one or more of the defendants ascended a single flight of stairs to a second-floor landing, where the bullet-riddled corpse of Jamarion Robinson was lying.
With the intention of covering-up their actions by manipulating the evidence on the scene and with the intention making it more difficult if not impossible to accurately reconstruct the shooting-event, the defendant officers:
Set off a flash bang grenade after lethally shooting Jamarion Robinson;
Stood over Jamarion Robinson corpse and mutilated it by firing into it two 9 millimeter bullets;
Handcuffed the corpse knowing that it was lifeless and without the power of animation to react to them;
Put an oxygen rebreathing mask over the corpse knowing that it was lifeless and without the power of respiration;
Dragged the corpse from the second floor landing down a flight of stairs to the first floor, with the purpose of attempting to destroy the evidentiary connection:
between the bullet entry-and-exit wounds on the corpse and the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling;
between the corpse and the blood- and flesh-spatter patterns on the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling; and
between the corpse and its actual position when found by the defendant officers; and f. Otherwise tampered with the evidence on the scene with the intention of destroying the evidentiary value
Heinze and Hutchens are accused of using unnecessary force by continuing to shoot at Robinson even after he fell to the ground and was unresponsive.
Daniel Doyle, another task force member who opened fire that day, died of cancer in March 2020 and was never charged.
According to a medical examiner’s report, Robinson was shot 59 times, with 75 bullet wounds that either entered or exited his body. The family said that a pathologist found that Robinson had been shot several times through the palms of both hands.[3] Attorney for the state Natalie Adams said Thursday that the report showed that Robinson’s “hands and arms were shot to bits.”
None of the officers were injured in the incident.[4] None of the police officers involved in the shooting wore body cameras.[13]
In court the two officers argued they were acting within the scope of their federal duties and in self-defense in their fatal shooting of Robinson and should therefore be immune from state prosecution.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took on the case from her predecessor after vowing to ensure swifter action in use-of-force cases.
Former District Attorney Paul Howard sued the U.S. Department of Justice for refusing to release documents related to the shooting and preventing his investigators from interviewing the officers involved.
The Justice Department had declined to open an investigation into the shooting after a U.S. Marshals shooting review board determined the officers’ use of force was authorized.
Robinson's mother, Monteria, filed a wrongful death and excessive force lawsuit against the officers in 2018.
Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten dismissed the suit in 2021, ruling that "their use of force was objectively reasonable” and granted them qualified immunity.
But after Monteria appealed the decision, the 11th Circuit found in August that evidence from a bystander video created a "genuine dispute of material fact."
Because officers at the time were not required to wear body cameras, the cellphone video has become crucial evidence to the case for capturing the sound of three automatic gun bursts after a flashbang was deployed, rendering Robinson unconscious. The 11th Circuit panel concluded that this evidence contradicts testimony given from officer Heinze, claiming he ceased fire after the flashbang grenade detonated.
Although the circuit judges affirmed Hutchens’ qualified immunity, because his weapon was incapable of producing the shots fired after the flashbang detonated, they did not address the full scope of his culpability to the alleged crime.
In February, Judge Batten dismissed Monteria's suit again, ruling that her claims were "inapplicable" because they sought damages against state officials, which does not include the officers who were acting as U.S. Marshals. Monteria filed an appeal against the decision in March.
The immunity hearing for the criminal charges will continue on Friday for further witness testimony. U.S. District Judge Victoria Calver, a Joe Biden appointee, will ultimately decide if the case will go forward to a federal trial.