Ex-Columbus police officer Adam Coy found guilty of murder of Andre Hill

A Franklin County jury found a former Columbus police officer guilty of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed Black man in December 2020.

In Monday's verdict, Adam Coy was found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 47-year-old Andre Hill.

Judge Stephen McIntosh will sentence Coy, 48, on November 25. The only sentence McIntosh can impose is life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 15 years.

Members of Hill's family cried and hugged each other as the verdict was read. Coy's family and supporters remained composed until Coy was handcuffed and his wife began to cry.

The unprecedented conviction marks the first time a Columbus police officer has been found guilty of murder for dying in the line of duty. Coy and his defense attorneys insisted that he believed his life was in danger when he shot Hill and believed that a silver key ring in Hill's hand was a revolver.

The city has already settled a civil lawsuit and agreed to pay Hill's family $10 million. It is the largest settlement of its kind in Franklin County history.

After his sentencing, Chief Deputy Attorney Anthony Pierson McIntosh called on Coy to be sentenced immediately. McIntosh instead chose to schedule sentencing at a later date so that attorneys could give him additional information about Coy's health and ongoing cancer treatment and Hill's family could prepare a victim impact statement.

McIntosh revoked Coy's bail and officers immediately took Coy into custody. He has been free since posting $1 million bail in February 2021.

Hill “would be happy that justice prevailed”

The jury began deliberations around 10 a.m. Thursday after hearing five days of testimony, 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.

After the verdict, Hill's sister, Shawna Barnett, said Hill would have many things to say about the outcome.

“He would be happy that justice prevailed,” she said. “He would be happy that the truth would be heard and not covered up. There would be no distractions. He would be happy if the result was what it was.”

The ruling sends a message, but the parties disagree about what it is

Brian Steel, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said Monday's ruling was the result of a politically biased prosecution and will have repercussions for other officers.

“This signals that your split-second decision could result in a murder conviction,” Steel said. “The pendulum has been overcorrected since 2020.”

Steel said Coy was dying and there was no gain for Hill's family, who are still grieving, or for Coy.

“Officers are willing to die for their community,” he said. “They are not willing to go to prison for their job.”

Pierson said he wasn't surprised by the verdict, but also wouldn't have been surprised if the jury had found Coy not guilty, given the rarity of convicting police officers in similar cases. He said he wanted Coy's bail revoked immediately because police officers should not receive special treatment.

“There’s still a lot ahead of them,” Pierson said. “No scenario would have surprised me.”

Both Pierson and defense attorney Mark Collins said they respected the time and effort the jury put into the case.

“It was devastating,” Collins said of the verdict, adding that Coy plans to appeal the verdict.

Collins said the indictment of several police officers in Franklin County – three officers are still awaiting trial – demonstrated the need for a change to the grand jury system and the need for specific jury instructions for these types of cases.

“The grand jury process failed,” Collins said. “People don’t understand the law.”

Collins said the verdict shocked Coy, who has not backed down in his interpretation of what happened the night of the shooting. He said bad outcomes could now occur if officials worried about what might happen because of a split-second decision.

“An officer who finds himself in a tight situation is not going to rely on his training and experience,” Collins said. “You take a break and then people get hurt.”

Given the number of officers charged and awaiting trial, Collins also expressed concerns about finding a fair jury in Franklin County.

“We had, this is the fourth for three people, with three more to go. At some point the community just gets tired, the court system gets tired.”

The jury rejected the defense's claim that the shooting was reasonable

The jury heard from 10 witnesses over five days and visited the shooting site on Oberlin Drive. The deliberations began at around 9:50 a.m. on Thursday.

Coy went to Oberlin Drive around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, after a neighbor called Columbus police about a silver SUV parked there that had been driving back and forth for about three hours.

Coy arrived and spoke to the SUV driver, now known to be named Hill. Evidence in the case showed Hill showed Coy a cell phone and said he was waiting for someone. Coy testified that he saw Hill go to the door of a neighboring house in Oberlin and knock on the door with no response from inside. Hill went back to the SUV, rummaged around inside, and returned to the front door, knocking again with no response.

Coy told jurors that when another officer, Amy Detweiler, arrived at the scene, Coy told her the situation was wrong and that the two approached the house.

Evidence from the trial showed that officers saw Hill in the open garage with no lights on, and Coy asked Hill to come out and show himself.

Coy yelled, “Gun, gun, he has a gun!” before drawing his gun and shooting Hill four times. Coy testified that he saw silver metal in Hill's right hand, while Hill held up his left hand with a cell phone 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 captured the shooting without sound in a 60-second flashback 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 of how officers, including Coy, failed to provide medical aid to Hill for about 10 minutes because no charges were filed against Coy in connection with the events following the shooting.

After the shooting, the Columbus City Council passed Andre's Law, which requires officers to provide medical assistance. Columbus also upgraded police officers' body cameras, including a two-minute lookback feature that captures audio and video.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Columbus police officer Adam Coy is guilty of murdering Andre Hill