ATLANTA — A murder trial against two law enforcement officers in the 2016 death of a man shot 59 times has been postponed to February.
Jury selection had been set to begin on Monday in the trial against Kristopher Hutchens and Eric Heinze, the two law enforcement officers charged in the shooting death of Jamarion Robinson.
Lawyers for the two have argued the case should be heard in federal court because Robinson was shot in the course of a U.S. Marshals task force serving a warrant on behalf of the Atlanta Police Department. Heinze was a Marshal at the time, and Hutchens a Clayton County Police officer who was participating on the task force.
A hearing was held last week on whether the trial should be moved to federal court, but no decision has yet been made by the federal judge overseeing the matter. For that reason, the Fulton County court where the trial would have otherwise began on Monday postponed its proceedings until February.
In federal court, the officers would plan to seek immunity as federal officers, a move the Fulton County District Attorney's Office has objected to.
Robinson had been a college football player at Clark Atlanta University and Tuskegee University, and had no criminal convictions.
The Marshals Regional Task Force said it was serving an arrest warrant on behalf of Gwinnett Police and Atlanta Police, over incidents in which he had allegedly poured gas on the floor beneath his bed and in front of his mother’s bedroom and for allegedly pointing a gun at officers while being confronted at a friend’s apartment complex.
Robinson’s mom said she called police, not to have him arrested, but to get him mental health assistance. His mother said at the time he had been recently diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and that police were aware of this.
A private detective hired by his mother uncovered evidence of gunshots straight into the ground where his body was laying. There is no body-camera video of the shooting though because, at the time, federal policies didn't allow for U.S. Marshals or local police officers assisting them to wear body cameras.
A medical examiner's report revealed Robinson had 76 bullet wounds from being shot 59 times, with some of the bullets creating both entry and exit wounds.
“Quite frankly, I’ve never seen anything as horrific as this scene,” private investigator Rashid McCall told 11Alive Investigator Rebecca Lindstrom in 2019.
The U.S. Department of Justice originally cleared the task force of wrongdoing, but a Fulton County grand jury brought the indictment against Hutchens and Heinze last year.
The U.S. Marshals have said Heinze was also placed on administrative duty following the murder indictment.
Hutchens remained with the Clayton County Police Department, and was reassigned last month after an outcry from Robinson's family when they learned he was involved in a training role.
Robinson's mother, Monteria Robinson, is still calling for the termination of Hutchens from the Clayton County Police Department.