DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The jury adjourned Thursday after its fourth day of deliberations with no verdict. It was an unusually quiet day in the Olsen trial.
The jurors chosen to weigh Olsen’s fate are not shy about asking questions. Until Thursday, they’ve asked a number of questions each - from mundane requests for office supplies to the more pressing matters such as needing a portion of the jury instructions.
However, Thursday's question was eerily similar to one they asked on the second day of deliberations:
If we are unable to reach an agreement on certain count does that invalidate the other charges we have agreed upon?
The answer from Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson was: no, it does not invalidate the other charges the jury has agreed upon. Then she told them to go back into the jury room and resume deliberations.
Olsen was responding to a 911 call about a possibly mentally disturbed individual who was wandering around The Heights at Chamblee apartments at approximately 1:30 p.m. on March 9, 2015. Olsen says when he arrived on scene, Hill started running at him at full speed. Olsen says he got out of his car and twice yelled, "Stop!" but Hill continued running.
Olsen shot Hill twice, killing him. The former officer said he was scared for his life.
Hill was an Air Force veteran who had been diagnosed as a bipolar. He was off his medicine at the time of the shooting and his family says he was in the midst of a mental breakdown.
The testimony phase of the trial finished Thursday after the defense made a surprising move: they rested their case without calling a single witness.
Before the jury was dismissed, prosecutors asked the judge to require them to remain and continue deliberating. They also suggested Judge Dear Jackson may want to consider an Allen Charge. An Allen Charge is an instruction given to a deadlocked jury. It's designed to shake jurors who make be entrenched in one position on a charge.
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