COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The murder trial for a former Columbus police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man begins with jury selection on Monday.
Former Columbus police officer Adam Coy, 48, is charged with murder, reckless homicide and felonious assault for fatally shooting Andre Hill, 47. If convicted, Coy could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. The jury selection process begins Monday, with the prosecution and defense expecting the process to take one to two days. Overall, both sides expect the trial to last about two weeks.
Use of force trials for police officers use a different standard than the typical murder trial. Jurors will not have to determine if Coy killed Hill but rather if Coy’s use of force was “objectively reasonable” based on the knowledge he had during that time, without the use of hindsight.
Once opening statements begin, NBC4i.com will provide livestreamed coverage of the trial.
The shooting
During the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2020, Columbus police received a nonemergency call reporting a suspicious vehicle parked on the street, being turned on and off, in the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive on the northwest side of the city.
When Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force, and fellow officer Amy Detweiler responded to the report around 1:50 a.m., they spotted an open garage and walked toward it with their flashlights on. Hill, who was later determined to be a guest at the home, was in the garage. Body camera video shows he began walking toward officers with a brightly lit phone screen held up in one hand, while his other hand was not clearly visible. It was then that Coy shot Hill, striking him four times.
Less than nine seconds passed from the time Hill was illuminated by a flashlight to when he was shot. Coy did not turn on his body camera until after the shooting. Due to a lookback feature that retained the previous 60 seconds of video without any audio, the shooting was captured. But what was said before shots were fired was not recorded.
During a later interview completed by the police department, Detweiler claimed that Coy asked Hill to exit the garage using a normal tone and Hill did not say anything in response, but turned and walked out of the garage. She revealed she did not see a gun or observe any threats from Hill but heard Coy yell, “There’s a gun in his other hand! There’s a gun in his other hand!” just before firing.
The audio picks up about 10 seconds after the shooting. As Hill laid wounded on the garage floor, Coy yelled at him to put his hands out to the side and roll on his stomach. He warned Detweiler not to get close to Hill because he could not see Hill’s hands.
Coy cursed as he rolled Hill over from his side onto his back. He shined a flashlight in the area where Hill was lying on the ground and did not find a weapon. About five minutes after the shooting, other officers began arriving at the scene and approaching Hill. Moments later, officers placed a fatally wounded and motionless Hill in handcuffs.
After several minutes, a police supervisor asked if anyone was “doing anything” for Hill then directed an officer to start pumping Hill’s chest. Roughly 10 minutes passed after the shooting before Hill was given any medical assistance.
Seven minutes and 30 seconds into the video, around 2 a.m., an officer approached Coy, identifying himself as officer support. He accompanied Coy to his cruiser as Coy got a drink of water. Coy then said, “I gotta figure out what I missed.”
“We’ll take care of that, I promise you,” said the other officer. “We don’t gotta say anything about this right this second.”
The other officer then led Coy away from the shooting scene. Coy asked him for permission to turn off his body camera before being taken to a substation.
Hill was taken to Riverside Methodist Hospital and pronounced dead at 2:35 a.m.
The aftermath
Approximately one week after the shooting, Coy was fired from the Columbus Division of Police.
A couple of months later, in February 2021, Coy was charged with murder in the commission of a felony, felonious assault, and two misdemeanor counts of dereliction of duty – one for failure to turn on his body camera and one for failure to inform his fellow officer that he thought Hill presented a danger. However, Coy was later indicted on an additional charge of reckless homicide, and the two misdemeanor counts were dropped.
That winter, City Council passed Andre’s Law, which requires Columbus officers to have their body cameras on when responding to calls and to provide medical assistance until paramedics arrive.
Hill’s family sought damages from Coy and Columbus police for Hill’s death, and in May, reached a $10 million settlement with the city. As a part of the agreement, Brentnell Community Center, located at 1280 Brentnell Ave., was renamed in Hill’s honor.
By October 2021, Coy’s trial was set for March 2022. However, over the course of years, the trial has been delayed three times due to Coy’s battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is now considered healthy enough to stand trial.
After the shooting, Coy’s employment history came to light, which showed he had a history of complaints for using force during arrests throughout his career.
Who will be at the trial?
Coy is represented by attorneys Mark Collins and Kaitlyn Stephens. The pair has represented multiple law enforcement officials under prosecutorial scrutiny for their use of force, including former Columbus police vice officer Andrew Mitchell, who killed Donna Castleberry in 2018, and Connor Grubb, a Blendon Township officer who killed 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young outside a Kroger in August 2023.
The Franklin County Prosecutor’s office is handling Coy’s case through Deputy Chief Counsel Anthony Pierson. The attorney’s office said Hill’s family is expected to be present for the trial.
“Mr. Hill’s family has patiently waited for this very important moment and will closely monitor these criminal proceedings,” said Michael Wright, an attorney for Hill’s family. “They have faith that when the facts are presented, Mr. Hill’s killer will be held fully accountable.”
Coy’s defense declined to comment. Judge Stephen McIntosh will oversee the trial.