ATLANTA — Robert Aaron Long, the suspect in the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, will no longer be in court in Fulton County on Monday.
Long was originally set to appear at 9:30 a.m.; however, a county clerk has information 11Alive that his appearance has been canceled. There is no word yet on why.
Long has already pleaded guilty to the case in Cherokee County, where a judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Three years later, Long's Fulton County case is still moving through the criminal justice system. Six out of the eight victims were of Asian descent, sparking conversation nationally about the possibility of the shootings being a hate crime due to the case's racial undertones.
In the years since the shootings, the tragic event remains fresh on the minds of members and supporters of the Asian community. They, along with several lawmakers, have vowed to make change.
Where Atlanta spa shootings case stands now
In 2021, Robert Aaron Long pleaded guilty to his crimes in Cherokee County to avoid the death penalty there. He was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun-Gonzalez, and Paul Andre Michels. A fifth person, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, was shot in the face by the gunman but survived.
Long still faces prosecution in Fulton County, where he has pleaded not guilty in hopes of trying to reach a plea deal that would take the death penalty off of the table. District Attorney Fani Willis previously said she would pursue the death penalty because the case "warrants the ultimate penalty." She also mentioned possible hate crime charges based on the race and sex of the four people killed in the county.
Three years after the killings, the case has slowly progressed after several delays in Fulton County.
Most recently, presiding Judge Ural Glanville ruled that media will be able to continue broadcasting pretrial proceedings after a motion was filed by Long's defense attorneys claiming that news coverage was "prejudicially affecting the jury pool."
Atlanta spa shooting victims
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