Jurors in the Robert “Chip” Olsen murder trial completed their third day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
In a note passed to Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, jurors said they were “still working” and asked to adjourn.
The panel of seven women and five men will resume deliberations on Thursday. Court will not be in session Wednesday because of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.
Olsen, a former DeKalb County police officer, is charged in the March 2015 shooting of Anthony Hill, a mentally ill Afghanistan war veteran who had stripped naked after skipping his meds. Hill, 26, was shot as he approached Olsen, ignoring commands to stop. Hill was unarmed.
On Monday, the jury told Dear Jackson they were hopelessly deadlocked on some of the six counts. But there was no mention of an impasse Tuesday.
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The two felony murder counts against Olsen, 57, appear to be the major bones of contention for the jury.
Jurors in Georgia are not told the ramifications of their verdicts, so it is unknown whether the 12 civilians charged with determining Olsen’s fate are aware he’d be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty on just one of the felony murder charges.
» PHOTOS: Olsen Murder Trial Week Two
» PHOTOS: Olsen Murder Trial Week One
The third day of deliberations started with a question that revealed a major oversight. The jury had asked to see the Georgia code for definitions of felony murder and aggravated assault.
That information would normally be available in the judge’s instruction to the jury. But someone apparently forgot to include a copy.
