Ex-officer who mistook a Black man's keys and phone for a gun gets 15 years to life for murder
Former Columbus officer Adam Coy shot Hill four times in a garage in December 2020, as the country reckoned with a series of police killings of Black men, women and children. He told jurors that he feared for his life because he thought Hill was holding a silver revolver.
'I feel my actions were justified,' Coy said. 'I reacted the same way I had in hundreds of training scenarios. I drew and fired my weapon to stop a threat, protect myself and my partner."
Prosecutors said Hill followed police commands and was never a threat to Coy.
In victim impact statements Monday, Hill's sisters and ex-wife described the 47-year-old as a gentle man who had never known a stranger. His grandchildren called him 'Big Daddy."
Police body camera footage showed Hill coming out of the garage of a friend's house holding up a cellphone in his left hand, his right hand not visible, seconds before he was fatally shot. Almost 10 minutes passed before officers at the scene rendered aid.
Coy, who was fired afterward, had a lengthy history of citizen complaints, although most were declared unfounded. Weeks later, the mayor forced out the police chief after a series of fatal police shootings of Black people.
Columbus later reached a $10 million settlement with Hill's family, and the city passed a law requiring police to give immediate medical attention to injured suspects.
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San Francisco Chronicle
6 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Brazil's Supreme Court orders house arrest for former President Bolsonaro, a Trump ally
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election — a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court, said in his decision that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by spreading content through his three lawmaker sons. Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement that he will appeal the decision. They said his words 'good afternoon, Copacabana, good afternoon my Brazil, a hug to everyone, this is for our freedom" — broadcast from a cell phone of one of his sons during a Sunday protest in Rio de Janeiro — cannot 'be regarded as ignoring precautionary measures or as a criminal act.' The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after U.S. President Donald Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally's judicial situation. Trump has called the proceedings a ' witch hunt,' triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Hours after the decision, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on X that the Trump administration 'condemns (de) Moraes' order imposing house arrest on Bolsonaro and will hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct.' 'Putting even more restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro's ability to defend himself in public is not a public service. Let Bolsonaro speak!' the U.S. State Department body said. The case against Bolsonaro Brazil's prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organization that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right leader narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2022. Monday's order followed one from the top court last month that ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings are underway. Following news of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil's federal police told The Associated Press that federal agents had seized cell phones at Bolsonaro's residence in the capital of Brasilia, as ordered by de Moraes in his decision. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorization to speak about the matter publicly. Bolsonaro is expected to remain in Brasilia for his house arrest as he is not allowed to travel. He also has a house in Rio de Janeiro, where he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for three decades. The former army captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested since the end of the country's military rule from 1964 to 1985, which Bolsonaro supported. 'Flagrant disrespect' The move from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, pleading for Brazil's congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are either under trial or jailed for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio through the phone of one of his sons, which de Moraes' described as illegal. 'The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendant's son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile, with the objective of hiding the legal transgression,' de Moraes wrote. Flávio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil 'is officially in a dictatorship' after his father's house arrest. 'The persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits!' the senator wrote. De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, has spread messages with 'a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary' — likely a veiled reference to Trump's support for Bolsonaro. De Moraes also said that Bolsonaro 'addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio' on Sunday so his supporters could 'try to coerce the Supreme Court.' Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression regarding Bolsonaro's trial. On Monday, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs called the Brazilian justice 'a U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser' and accused him of using "institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy." De Moraes said in his decision that '(Brazil's) judiciary will not allow a defendant to make a fool out of it." "Justice is the same for all. A defendant who willingly ignores precautionary measures — for the second time — must suffer legal consequences,' he said. Possible trouble ahead Creomar de Souza, a political analyst of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia, said Bolsonaro's house arrest opens a new moment for the country's opposition, which will could gather steam in fighting against Lula's reelection bid next year. Now, de Souza said, 'the 2026 election looks like turmoil' and the political debate in Brazil will likely be split between two key struggles. 'One is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right, no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there,' the analyst said. 'The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government.' 'This is just the start,' he concluded. The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring, allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his home. Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court, citing the bias of the judge in the case. Michel Temer, who became president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, was arrested for 10 days in 2019 in connection with a graft investigation, which later ended without a conviction. Earlier this year, de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor, who was in office from 1990 to 1992 until he was impeached. The 75-year-old former president was convicted for money laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his more than eight-year sentence. Hours after the order, right-wing lawmakers criticized de Moraes' decision and compared Bolsonaro's situation to that of his predecessors. 'House arrest for Jair Bolsonaro by de Moraes. Reason: corruption?' asked lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira. 'No. His kids posted his content on social media. Pathetic.' The far-right leader is already barred from next year's election due to an abuse of power conviction by the country's top electoral court. 'And those who attacked it are about to pay,' Salabert said.
The Hill
36 minutes ago
- The Hill
Brazil's Supreme Court orders house arrest for former President Bolsonaro, a Trump ally
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the house arrest for former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election — a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court, said in his decision that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by spreading content through his three lawmaker sons. Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement that he will appeal the decision. They said his words 'good afternoon, Copacabana, good afternoon my Brazil, a hug to everyone, this is for our freedom' — broadcast from a cell phone of one of his sons during a Sunday protest in Rio de Janeiro — cannot 'be regarded as ignoring precautionary measures or as a criminal act.' The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after U.S. President Donald Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally's judicial situation. Trump has called the proceedings a ' witch hunt,' triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The case against Bolsonaro Brazil's prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organization that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right leader narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2022. Monday's order followed one from the top court last month that ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings are underway. Following news of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil's federal police told The Associated Press that federal agents had seized cell phones at Bolsonaro's residence in the capital of Brasilia, as ordered by de Moraes in his decision. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorization to speak about the matter publicly. Bolsonaro is expected to remain in Brasilia for his house arrest as he is not allowed to travel. He also has a house in Rio de Janeiro, where he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for three decades. The former army captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested since the end of the country's military rule from 1964 to 1985, which Bolsonaro supported. 'Flagrant disrespect' The move from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, pleading for Brazil's congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are either under trial or jailed for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio through the phone of one of his sons, which de Moraes' described as illegal. 'The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendant's son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile, with the objective of hiding the legal transgression,' de Moraes wrote. Lawyers for the former Brazilian president did not make comments after the decision. Flávio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil 'is officially in a dictatorship' after his father's house arrest. 'The persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits!' the senator wrote. De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, has spread messages with 'a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary' — likely a veiled reference to Trump's support for Bolsonaro. De Moraes also said that Bolsonaro 'addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio' on Sunday so his supporters could 'try to coerce the Supreme Court.' Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression and the ongoing trial of Bolsonaro. 'Justice will not allow a defendant to make a fool out of it,' de Moraes said in his decision. 'Justice is the same for all. A defendant who willingly ignores precautionary measures — for the second time — must suffer legal consequences.' Possible trouble ahead Creomar de Souza, a political analyst of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia, said Bolsonaro's house arrest opens a new moment for the country's opposition, which will could gather steam in fighting against Lula's reelection bid next year. Now, de Souza said, 'the 2026 election looks like turmoil' and the political debate in Brazil will likely be split between two key struggles. 'One is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right, no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there,' the analyst said. 'The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government.' 'This is just the start,' he concluded. The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring, allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his home. Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court, citing the bias of the judge in the case. Michel Temer, who became president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, was arrested for 10 days in 2019 in connection with a graft investigation, which later ended without a conviction. Earlier this year, de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor, who was in office from 1990 to 1992 until he was impeached. The 75-year-old former president was convicted for money laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his more than eight-year sentence.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Tennessee to execute Byron Black amid heart device, intellectual disability concerns
Byron Black is being executed despite intellectual disabilities and a heart device that attorneys said could cause complications. Black is being executed for killing his girlfriend and her daughters As Angela Clay and her two young daughters slept in their Nashville home, a killer approached. They didn't stand a chance. Clay and her eldest daughter, 9-year-old Latoya, were found shot dead in bed. Clay's other girl, 6-year-old Lakeisha, was found on the floor in another bedroom, killed while apparently trying to escape. Now, 37 years later, Tennessee is set to execute the man convicted of killing them: Clay's boyfriend, Byron Black. If the execution moves forward on Tuesday, Aug. 5, Black will become the 28th inmate put to death in the United States this year, a 10-year high, with at least nine more executions scheduled. The case is unique for two reasons — Black's "undisputed intellectual disability" has many calling for a reprieve, including some Republicans; his attorneys have raised serious questions about whether Black's implanted heart device will cause "a prolonged and torturous execution" in violation of the U.S. Constitution. "Byron's execution carries so many risks," his attorney, Kelley Henry, said in a statement. "He is elderly, frail, and cognitively impaired; there's no principled reason to move forward with this torturous procedure." Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement that the state's expert testimony "refused the suggestion that Black would suffer severe pain if executed." "Our office will continue fighting to seek justice for the Clay family and to hold Black accountable for his horrific crimes," Skrmetti said. Here's what you need to know about the murders, the three lives that were shattered, and Black's execution. When will Byron Black be executed? Black's execution by lethal injection is set for 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. What was Byron Black convicted of? Black was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two daughters: 9-year-old Latoya and 6-year-old Lakeisha. They were murdered on March 27, 1988. At the time of the murders, Black had been on work release from prison for shooting Clay's estranged husband and her daughter's father, Bennie Clay, in 1986. Prosecutors told jurors at trial that Black killed Angela Clay because he was jealous of her ongoing relationship with her ex. Investigators believe that Angela Clay and Latoya were shot as they slept, while Lakeisha appeared to have tried to escape after being wounded in the chest and pelvis. Bennie Clay has previously told The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, that he believes Black killed the girls to spite him. "My kids, they were babies," he told the paper. "They were smart, they were gonna be something. They never got the chance." More recently, Bennie Clay, 68, told The Tennessean that he planned to attend the execution, though he said he has forgiven Black. 'God has a plan for everything,' he told the paper. 'He had a plan when he took my girls. He needed them more than I did, I guess.' Judge ordered Byron Black's heart device removed before execution On July 22, a judge ordered that a heart device implanted in Black needed to be removed at a hospital the morning of his execution, a development that appeared to complicate matters as a Nashville hospital declined to participate. But the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the judge's order, and the U.S. Supreme Court backed that up, clearing the way for Black to be executed despite the heart device. His attorneys argue that the device, designed to revive the heart, could lead to "a prolonged and torturous execution." "It's horrifying to think about this frail old man being shocked over and over as the device attempts to restore his heart's rhythm even as the State works to kill him," Henry said in a statement. The state is arguing that Black's heart device will not cause him pain. Byron Black's attorneys call on the governor for help With their arguments over Byron's heart device at the end of the legal road, Black's attorneys are re-focusing their attention on his intellectual disabilities, and calling on Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to stop the execution and prevent "a grotesque spectacle." Citing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and exposure to toxic lead, his attorneys said his mental impairments meant Black always had to live with and rely on family. Even now on death row, his attorneys said that other inmates "do his everyday tasks for him, including cleaning his cell, doing his laundry, and microwaving his food." "If ever a case called for the Governor to grant clemency or, at the very least, a reprieve, it is this one," Henry said in a statement. The director of Tennessee Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty said that she supports accountability for people who commit heinous crimes, but "the law is clear that we do not execute people with intellectual disability." "Governor Lee can insist on accountability while ensuring that the law is also followed. A situation such as this is exactly why governors have clemency power," Jasmine Woodson said in a statement. "Mr. Black has spent over three decades in prison for this crime and will never be released. As a conservative, I believe that he should remain behind bars, but he should not be executed." Lee's office has not responded to USA TODAY's requests for comment. In his statement to USA TODAY, Skrmetti pushed back at findings that he's intellectually disabled and said that "over the decades, courts have uniformly denied Black's eleven distinct attempts to overturn his murder convictions and death sentence." Angela Clay's family seeks justice Earlier this year, Angela Clay's sister told The Tennessean that she and her family were frustrated with years of delays, court hearings, and uncertainty. "It's been decades and nothing has happened," she said. "He needs to pay for what he did." Angela Clay's mother, Marie Bell, told The Tennessean that she had been waiting far too long for justice. "I'm 88 years old and I just want to see it before I leave this Earth," she said. Contributing: Kelly Puente, The Tennessean Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
