ATLANTA — Family history and mental illness were key topics during the second day of motion hearings in the case of Robert Aaron Long, the convicted spa shooter, who faces the death penalty in Fulton County.
Channel 2’s Audrey Washington was at the Fulton County Courthouse, where hearing focused on potential jury selection for Long’s death penalty trial.
The motion hearings began Monday.
Long has already pleaded guilty to four murders in Cherokee County and is serving a life sentence, but he has pled not guilty to the shootings in Fulton County.
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“We go back a couple of generations if we can, to develop a full picture of how this person came to be, who he is,” said Russell Stetler, the retired national mitigation coordinator with The Federal Death Penalty Project, who took the stand on Tuesday.
Stetler told the court how he helped attorneys present mitigating evidence to courts in federal death penalty cases.
His work is to ensure effective representation and a moral decision by the jury.
“Intellectual disability of any kind is a disadvantage in life and which is something that is inherently mitigating,” Stetler said.
At the center of the hearing is Long, currently serving a life sentence.
The prosecution pushed back, saying, “That is asking the potential juror to pre-judge the case and those questions are forbidden under Georgia law.”
Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville eventually sided with the prosecution and said, while he understands mitigation, the defense can not ask questions and ask the jury to pre-judge the case.
“I can’t really rule on it at this point in time because I don’t have any specifics to look at in terms of questions or jury instructions,” Glanville said.
Motion hearings in the high-profile case resumes Wednesday morning.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Deadly spa shooter’s defense argues publicity could impact death penalty trial
- Spa shooting suspect enters not guilty plea in Fulton County
- Metro Atlanta spa shooter agrees to guilty plea deal in Cherokee County shooting
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- Who is Robert Aaron Long, the suspect in the deadly Georgia spa shootings?
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