Adam Coy trial: Prosecution witnesses testify in murder case of officer who shot unarmed man

The prosecution called on John Daniels, a forensic pathologist, to testify. Daniels discussed the injuries that Hill faced as a result of the shooting, including four gunshot wounds that resulted in “significant blood loss.” Daniels testified it would take “minutes at most” without medical assistance for a person to die from the most serious injury Hill sustained.

The fifth person to testify was Aja Chung, who worked with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Crime Scene Unit at the time of the shooting. The prosecution pulled up crime scene photos and had Chung describe the photos to the jury.

Chung also unpacked and displayed physical evidence for the jury, including a cigarette pack and other items found near Hill. During cross-examination, defense attorney Collins gave the jury a close-up look of the keys that Hill was holding at the time of the shooting.

Paul Hill, a firefighter with the Upper Arlington Fire Department, testified for the prosecution. After the shooting, Paul Hill said he was dispatched at 1:59 a.m. to respond to an officer-involved shooting. He said he did not know if an officer shot someone, or if an officer was shot.

Upon arrival, Paul Hill said the officers on scene told him they just arrived and did not have much information. Paul Hill then checked Andre Hill for a pulse, and he did not have one. The prosecution asked if he recalled any items on the ground near Andre Hill, to which he replied a phone and a set of keys.

The defense then cross-examined Paul Hill, asking if — in his experience responding to shootings — it was common for a victim of a shooting to be handcuffed, to which he replied it was.

The defense then displayed the Upper Arlington Division of Fire’s incident report for the shooting to the courtroom, pointing out that Andre Hill’s race was noted as white.

The prosecution called upon its third witness, Columbus police officer Benjamin Branford, who responded to the shooting. He said he went into the situation with little information, not knowing what had happened, except for an officer-involved shooting occurred.

After the shooting, Branford said some officers who were called to the scene began looking though the garage and surrounding the house. At the same time, Branford assisted in placing handcuffs on Hill and performed chest compressions after another police official instructed him to do so.

The defense then cross-examined Branford, asking if placing handcuffs on Hill was a part of standard procedure, to which Branford replied it was.

The prosecution began questioning Amy Detweiler, the officer who was with Coy at the time of the shooting, on Thursday before court was adjourned for the day. The prosecution continued questioning her on Friday, recounting the timeline of events surrounding the shooting.

According to Detweiler, she activated her body-worn camera as soon as the pair decided to approach Hill. However, she claimed it did not work for an unknown reason. After the shooting, she realized it did not activate and turned it on for the second time, and it began recording.

The prosecution then asked her about when she drew her weapon, to which she replied she decided to draw her weapon when approaching the driveway, and believes Coy drew his weapon around the same time. After the shooting, she claims she moved her cruiser out of the roadway then began securing the scene with tape.

The defense then cross-examined Detweiler, asking her about the Columbus Division of Police’s training. During the training, she said officers are trained to “shoot to end the threat.” They are also trained to look for “reasonable suspicion” and once officers determine reasonable suspicion exists, they are required to investigate.

When Coy asked Hill to leave the garage, Detweiler said she did not hear Hill respond. She said she did not shoot at Hill because she could not see a deadly threat, but if she did see a deadly threat, she would have fired. Detweiler said Coy was visibly upset upon not finding a weapon after the shooting.

The prosecution then briefly questioned Detweiler again about Hill’s phone. She said when Hill walked toward them in the garage with his phone held up, she observed multiple green text bubbles on his screen, but could not read them.

The defense then asked her one last question: if she would have shot Hill if she perceived a deadly threat, to which she replied she would have.

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.

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. The prosecution claimed that Hill showed Coy a text on his phone indicating that he was waiting to meet with someone. The defense claimed during this interaction, Hill was “wide-eyed and jittery.”

The prosecution said the state expects to prove Coy knowingly and recklessly caused Hill’s death, and knowingly caused serious physical harm to Hill. Defense attorneys stated they expect to show Coy was justified in his actions.

The prosecution called two witnesses to the stand Thursday. The man who called the police about Hill’s car, Robert Roenker, was the first to testify. He claimed that after Coy responded to the suspicious vehicle call, a female neighbor came outside and loudly said the person in the vehicle was her friend. Roenker said he conveyed this information 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.

The second person the prosecution called to the stand was Amy Detweiler, the officer who was with Coy at the time of the shooting. Detweiler reiterated that she did not see a weapon in Hill’s hand, as she has said in previous interviews. After Detweiler’s testimony began, the judge called for a break and then court adjourned for the day. She is expected to testify again Friday.

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.