ATLANTA — A former Georgia police officer who shot and killed an unarmed, naked man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of aggravated assault and won’t serve any additional time behind bars.
After Robert “Chip” Olsen, 63, entered his plea, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson sentenced him to 15 years with 12 years commuted to time served, with the balance to be served on probation, prosecutors said in a press release. He was also ordered to serve 100 hours of community service.
“No one would say that they are happy about any aspect of this case, it was a tragedy all the way around, but today’s resolution will bring closure to the case,” Olsen’s lawyers Amanda Clark Palmer and Don Samuel said in a statement. “We are relieved that our client will not serve any additional time in custody.”
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a press release that she hopes the plea provides Anthony Hill’s family some peace.
“It has been more than a decade since Anthony Hill’s life was cut tragically short,” Boston said. “Defendant Olsen’s guilty plea brings this long, arduous chapter to a close and through it he has finally accepted some responsibility for his actions.”
Olsen was responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically at an Atlanta-area apartment complex in March 2015 when he killed 26-year-old Hill, a Black Air Force veteran who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Olsen, who was a DeKalb County police officer at the time, said he was acting in self-defense.
He was indicted in January 2016 on charges including murder, aggravated assault, violation of his oath of office and making a false statement.
A jury in 2019 found him guilty of one count of aggravated assault, two counts of violating his oath of office and one count of making a false statement. He was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison, followed by eight years of probation. He appealed his conviction of aggravated assault and one count of violation of his oath, and the Georgia Court of Appeals last year overturned those convictions.
Before trial, Olsen’s lawyers had argued that the DeKalb County Police Department’s use of force policy should not be submitted as evidence. The appeals court agreed that the trial court was wrong to admit the policy into evidence without identifying and redacting the portions that conflict with Georgia law.
The appeals court ruling said that prosecutors could retry Olsen on the aggravated assault charge but not the violation of oath count.