Former officer who shot, killed unarmed Black man in 2015 has conviction overturned

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A former police officer convicted of killing an unarmed Black man in DeKalb County in 2015 has now had his convictions overturned.

The Georgia Court of Appeals announced Tuesday the decision to overturn a lower court’s ruling against for police officer Robert Chip Olsen, who shot and killed Anthony Hill at a DeKalb County apartment complex.

In 2019, Olsen was sentenced on Friday to 20 years, with 12 to serve in prison in Hill’s death but was found not guilty of murder.

“We reverse Olsen’s convictions on aggravated assault and violation of oath by a public officer based upon a violation of the (DeKalb County Police Department’s Use of Force Policy),” the court said in its ruling Tuesday. “We conclude further that, although the evidence was legally sufficient to sustain Olsen’s conviction on aggravated assault such that he may be retried on that count should the State opt to do so, the evidence was legally insufficient with respect to the crime of violation of oath by a public officer based upon a violation of the UFP.”

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Hill, 26, had stopped taking his meds and had stripped off his clothes when he encountered Olsen in the parking lot of the Heights Chamblee apartment complex in 2015.

When Hill ran toward Olsen, ignoring his commands to stop, Olsen fired twice.

Olsen has always maintained that he acted in self-defense.

Tuesday’s ruling said certain parts of the county’s use of force policy conflict with Georgia’s law governing self-defense, making the county’s provisions “null, void and of no force or effect to the criminal charges lodges against (Olsen),” the opinion said.

“Given that the entirety of Olsen’s defense — and the very question the jury was being called upon to answer — was whether Olsen was justified in using lethal force, we cannot say that it is highly probable that the erroneous admission of the UFP (to the extent that it conflicted with Georgia’s self-defense law) did not contribute to the jury’s verdict,” the ruling said.

Channel 2 Action News contacted the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, which sent a statement saying:

“We have worked tirelessly to hold Robert Olsen accountable for the death of Anthony Hill. While we respect the Court of Appeals, we wholeheartedly disagree with their decision and will appeal this matter to the Georgia Supreme Court.”

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