Trial delayed again for former Columbus cop charged with murdering unarmed Black man

A trial has again been postponed for Adam Coy, a former Columbus police officer charged with murder in the fatal 2020 shooting of Andre Hill.

Coy, who has been diagnosed with cancer, was initially set to stand trial on April 24 in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. A judge postponed the trial indefinitely, then rescheduled it for February of 2024 before delaying it again Wednesday.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Stephen McIntosh said a hearing will be set for January to determine the next steps in the case.

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Coy underwent a bone marrow transplant and then a stem cell transplant in November and was hospitalized for 21 days, said Mark Collins, Coy's defense attorney. Coy was sent home in early December and is on bed rest and unable to eat solid food, Collins said.

Collins said he expects to know after Dec. 28 whether Coy is now cancer-free. If he is, Collins said Coy would need three to six months of recovery before he can stand trial.

Anthony Pierson, deputy chief counsel for the Franklin County prosecutor's office, told McIntosh that he's concerned with how long it's taking to bring the case to trial. Pierson told The Dispatch "I just feel for the family" and said he has never worked a case that has been continued for this long.

Family members of Hill pleaded with the court on Wednesday to move forward with the February trial date.

"It has been so long since Andre was taken from us. It has been four Christmases since he was taken from us. ... It's just not fair that we have to sit here and continually wait," Dr. Shawna Barnett, one of Hill's sisters, said in court on Wednesday.

Collins previously told The Dispatch that Coy was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Throughout his treatment, Collins said Coy could not adequately help prepare for his defense.

Coy, 47, who is free on a $1 million bond, was charged with murder, felonious assault, reckless homicide and two misdemeanor counts of dereliction of duty for the shooting death of Hill, an unarmed Black man, inside a Northwest Side garage around 2 a.m., Dec. 22, 2020.

Coy and officer Amy Detweiler had responded to a nonemergency noise call about a vehicle repeatedly turning on and off. Coy had a prior conversation with Hill, who went into a garage at the home just before Detweiler arrived.

Body camera footage shows the officers were walking up the driveway when Hill emerged from the dark, open garage with an illuminated cellphone in his raised left hand. Coy opened fire and mortally wounded Hill.

Neither officer turned on their body cameras before the shooting, and the body camera technology Columbus police had at that time automatically captured the previous minute of video from the incident, but without audio.

Collins has said that Coy fired after mistaking a set of keys in Hills’ right hand for a silver revolver.

Body camera footage shows that officers handcuffed Hill while he lay on the ground, but the two officers and other responding officers did not give Hill medical aid for more than 10 minutes while awaiting medics.

Hill's family received a $10 million settlement from the city of Columbus after his death. City Council also passed Andre's Law in Hill's honor, requiring law enforcement personnel in Columbus to provide first aid measures until paramedics arrive on the scene.

Columbus police fired Coy within a week of the shooting.

mfilby@dispatch.com

@MaxFilby

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Trial delayed for Adam Coy, a former Columbus cop charged with murder