COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A former Columbus police officer is now convicted of murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide.

Adam Coy shot and killed Andre Hill in December 2020. The guilty verdict on all three charges was returned Monday after five days of testimony and about 12 hours of deliberations.

What the jury didn’t hear in the murder trial of former Columbus police officer Adam Coy

It marks the first trial for a fatal law enforcement-involved shooting in Franklin County that did not end in a mistrial or not guilty verdict.

Capital University law professor Rob Barnhart said Coy’s case proves there is potential to find a 12-person jury in Franklin County willing to convict a police officer. He said he was surprised to see a guilty verdict returned on all three counts.

“So in cases where reckless homicide is on the table, you might think that jurors who might be swayed about convicting a law enforcement officer might say, ‘Well, we don’t know if we mean he tried to kill this. person or wanted to kill this person, but we’re willing to say he should have behaved better,’” Barnhart said.

There are currently three lawsuits pending in Franklin County for fatal law enforcement-involved shootings:

Barhart said that while Coy’s case doesn’t set a precedent for future cases, it could change the attorney’s tactics.

Reactions after ex-Columbus cop found guilty of fatally shooting unarmed man

“I guess if you’re the state and you have access, you know, it’s not always the same prosecutors, but you have access to those prosecutors and you see if the jurors talk to them and you see what worked,” Barnhart said. “I mean, theoretically now, you have a manual that works and you can run it again. But you’re also dealing with the same defensive team that knows maybe you’re going to run the same playbook and they can adjust accordingly.”

The same defense team that represented Coy — Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens — are representing law enforcement in the three pending cases. However, prosecutors are different.

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