Adam Coy trial: What happens if the jury cannot come to a unanimous decision?
Jury deliberations are expected to resume at about 9:15 a.m. Monday. NBC4 will livestream the reading of the verdict when it happens.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Franklin County jury will have its third day of deliberations Monday in the murder trial of a former Columbus police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man.
After deliberating for 10 hours through Thursday and Friday, jurors will continue to deliberate Monday in the trial of Adam Coy, 48, who is facing charges of murder, reckless homicide and felonious assault in the death of Andre Hill, 47. If convicted of murder — the most serious charge — Coy could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. The jury could choose to convict Coy on any combination of charges, or none at all.
The jury in Coy's trial will deliberate on its own schedule, Judge Stephen McIntosh said. Jury deliberations have no set time limit, and can last anywhere from minutes to months.
Use of force trials for police officers use a different standard than the typical murder trial. Jurors will not have to determine whether Coy killed Hill but rather whether Coy’s use of force was “objectively reasonable” for a police officer based on the knowledge he had during that time, without the use of hindsight.
If the jury is having trouble coming to a unanimous decision, a judge may direct them to deliberate further, but not usually more than once or twice, according to the Fully Informed Jury Association.
If a verdict cannot be reached, the judge will declare a mistrial due to a hung jury. In the instance of a mistrial, often the prosecutor will choose to retry the case, or they could dismiss the charges, according to Cornell Law School. Attorneys could also negotiate a plea deal.
On Dec. 22, 2020, at about 1:50 a.m., Coy shot Hill four times while responding to a nonemergency suspicious vehicle call on Columbus’ northwest side. Coy fired at Hill after he began exiting a garage at Coy’s request, with a lit phone screen held up in his left hand and his right hand at his side, not clearly visible due to a parked car. Coy testified he believed Hill had a silver revolver in his right hand, which ended up being a set of keys.
While multiple officers began arriving at the scene about five minutes after the shooting, 10 minutes passed before Hill was given any medical assistance. He died at a hospital less than an hour later.
About one week after the shooting, Coy was fired from the force. In February 2021, Coy was charged with murder and felonious assault, before he was indicted on an additional charge of reckless homicide in April. In the following years, Coy’s trial was delayed three times due to his battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The trial began with jury selection on Oct. 21, nearly four years after the shooting.
Jurors heard from a total of 10 witnesses, including an officer with Coy at the time of the shooting, Coy himself and other responders. Jurors also heard from law enforcement expert witnesses from both the prosecution and defense, who gave conflicting testimony on whether Coy followed nationally recognized police practices. Jurors did not hear about previous use of force citizen complaints made against Coy, and some other related circumstances that were either prohibited from being mentioned or not presented by attorneys.
The main theme of the defense’s case was that Coy was justified in shooting Hill, since he perceived a deadly threat and reacted in the way he was trained. Prosecuting attorneys argued Coy acted recklessly, and could have taken numerous other courses of action if he was suspicious of Hill that would have not resulted in his death.