Adam Coy trial: Testimony in murder case of police officer who shot unarmed man

Jury selection began on Monday, Oct. 21, with the process taking a total of three days. On Wednesday, Oct. 23, 12 jurors and four alternates were sworn in, then taken to view the scene where Coy shot Hill.

Opening statements took place on Thursday, with attorneys revealing that Coy and Hill had interacted before the shooting. When Coy initially arrived at the scene, he approached Hill’s vehicle. It was then that Hill showed Coy a text on his phone, and told him he was waiting to meet with someone. The defense claimed during this interaction, Hill was “wide-eyed and jittery.”

The prosecution called two witnesses to the stand Thursday. The man who called the police about Hill’s car was the first to testify, followed by Amy Detweiler, the officer who was with Coy at the time of the shooting. She testified that she did not see a gun on Hill or perceive a deadly threat.

Detweiler’s testimony continued into Friday, before the prosecution called both a responding Columbus police officer and medic to the stand to discuss what happened in the moments after the shooting. A crime scene investigator walked the jury through a plethora of crime scene photos, and a forensic pathologist discussed the injuries Hill faced as a result of the shooting.

On Monday, the defense called its first witness, an expert on police practices, to the stand. The witness, Kevin Davis, testified Coy’s actions – including choosing to investigate what Hill was doing and using deadly force when he perceived his life was in danger – were consistent with nationally recognized police practices.

The defense called Coy to the stand next, where he recounted the shooting from his perspective. He detailed behavior from Hill and circumstances leading up to the shooting that he found suspicious, as well as how he feared for his life when he mistook Hill’s keys for a gun. He described the early morning hours of the shooting as “the worst night of [his] life.”

The defense’s last witness was James Scanlon, a retired Columbus police officer and expert witness in law enforcement use of force. Scanlon testified Coy’s actions were consistent with federal law enforcement standards and training, and that officers are allowed to make mistakes, as long as they are “objectively reasonable.” After Scanlon’s testimony, the defense rested its case.

Amy Detweiler, the officer who was with Coy at the time of the shooting, was called to the stand by the prosecution. Detweiler said she was dispatched around 1:30 a.m. on a disturbance call, where she was told a silver SUV was turning on and off. She drove to the scene without her cruiser’s lights or sirens on, which she said is typical for this type of call.

She claimed she then pulled onto the street and observed Coy was already parked and outside of his cruiser. She parked and exited her vehicle, when she observed a house nearby with an open garage and a man, later determined to be Hill, walking toward it from the vicinity of a silver SUV.

Detweiler said she had a brief interaction with Coy, where he said he ran the license plate of the silver SUV and it was not registered with a home on the street. They both walked toward the garage, which Detweiler said was completely dark, with their flashlights on. She said she had “no idea” why Hill was in the garage, so they had to approach him to find out what he was doing at the residence.

According to Detweiler, Coy yelled that he saw a gun before firing four times, but she never saw a firearm. Detweiler said she called for a medic and officer support seconds after the shooting.

The prosecution has called its first witness: the man who originally called the police about Hill’s car. The witness, Robert Roenker, called police after seeing a vehicle turning on and off on his street multiple times over the course of about three hours.

Roenker said when Coy arrived, he originally observed the wrong car. He told Coy, who then walked to the correct vehicle. Roenker claimed a female neighbor came outside “hollering,” and said the person in the vehicle was her friend — which Roenker claimed he conveyed to Coy. However, Coy’s defense played audio from two previous interviews Roenker did in December and January after the shooting, where he claimed he approached Coy to tell him, but did not get to because Coy told him he needed to go back inside his house.

Shortly after Roenker and Coy went there separate ways, Roenker said he heard gunshots. He did not see the shooting.

Defense attorney Kaitlyn Stephens began her opening statement by emphasizing that it does not matter if a weapon was found on the scene, because police officers are “allowed to be mistaken.” She claimed Coy saw a glint of steel, and believed he was going to get shot.

She said Coy fired at what he honestly believed was a revolver, which ended up being a metal mass of keys. The defense claims Coy was not reckless, but did what he was trained to do: shoot to stop the threat. She also emphasized that police officers are forced to make split second decisions, and that the theme of the defense’s case would be that Coy was justified in his actions.

Stephens then laid out what happened the night of the shooting from Coy’s perspective. She said when Coy talked to Hill in his car, he appeared to be “wide-eyed and jittery.” From the interaction, Coy was under the impression someone would be coming outside to meet Hill and Coy returned to his cruiser to keep an eye on the situation.

The defense continued to say Hill exited his vehicle, and went to a home and pounded on the door. Nobody in the home turned on their lights or came downstairs. Hill then walked back to the SUV, and rummaged through the car before walking toward the house again. According to the defense, Coy asked what was going on, and Hill ignored him, while looking back at Coy multiple times. Coy chose to approach Hill, because believed may have been committing a crime such as a burglary.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Renee Amlin began her opening statement by laying out the events that occurred leading up to the shooting. Amlin said Hill drove a silver SUV, which was a work vehicle filled with tools and equipment. Hill parked on the street as he waited to meet with a friend. Due to the cold weather, Hill was turning the car on and off. This grabbed the attention of a neighbor, who called the police.

According to the prosecution, Coy was dispatched, and approached Hill while he was in his vehicle on the street. Hill told Coy he was waiting for someone, showing him a text on his phone indicating the person would be ready to see him shortly. Coy returned to his cruiser, and fellow officer Amy Deitweiler arrived at the scene a short time later. The pair determined they needed to approach Hill, who had just entered the garage of his friend’s home.

Coy then ordered Hill to come out of the garage. He began walking toward Coy, with his cellphone in his hand as if to “show officers something on his phone,” Amlin said. It was then Hill was shot. A cell phone and keys were found, but no weapon.

Amlin said the state expects to prove Coy knowingly and recklessly caused Hill’s death, and knowingly caused serious physical harm to Hill. She claimed the state will call on an expert to testify about police practices, which will show Coy did not follow them.

Jury selection began on Monday, with the pool of potential jurors consisting of over 100 people. All prospective jurors had to answer 92 questions, ranging from their opinions on groups like Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, to what coverage they have consumed related to Hill’s death and if they socialize with any police officers. Multiple jurors were dismissed Monday because of their bias for or against police or social justice issues.

The jury selection process continued through Tuesday, with attorneys completing individual questioning in the morning, before group questioning began with the assistance of Judge Stephen McIntosh. The pool of potential jurors was narrowed down to about 60 people by the end of the day.

The jury selection process wrapped up on Wednesday afternoon, when 12 jurors and four alternates were sworn in. Jurors and alternates consist of seven men and nine women, with three being people of color. Jurors were taken to view the scene of the shooting on Wednesday afternoon.

On Dec. 22, 2020, Columbus police received a nonemergency call reporting a suspicious vehicle in the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive on the northwest side of the city. Coy, a 19-year veteran of the force, and fellow officer Amy Detweiler responded to the report around 1:50 a.m., when 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 at his side and 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. However, 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.

Multiple officers arrived about five minutes after Hill was shot, and roughly another five minutes passed before an officer gave Hill any medical assistance. He was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead at 2:35 a.m. No weapon was recovered at the scene. Approximately one week after the shooting, Coy was fired from the Columbus Division of Police.

In 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.