Convicted spa shooter’s confession shouldn’t be used against him in Fulton County, attorneys say
Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville is deciding if he should allow the state to use a confession made by the man accused of shooting and killing four Asian women at massage businesses in 2021 in his upcoming death penalty trial.
Robert Aaron Long faces 19 charges in Fulton County, including felony murder and domestic terrorism, for the women’s deaths. Prosecutors are also seeking enhanced sentencing under Georgia’s new hate crimes law. The spa shootings sparked nationwide protests against hate crimes and discrimination targeting Asian Americans.
On Friday, several family members of the victims sat in the courtroom as Long’s lawyers argued against his confession being used against him, calling Long’s comments to investigators “inadequate” and “involuntary.”
While Long waived his Miranda rights verbally and in writing after his arrest, the defense claims that sometime during his nearly two-hour interrogation, he admitted that he had drank a bottle of Four Roses Bourbon before the shootings, meaning it is possible he was still under the effect of alcohol while confessing to the alleged crimes.
However, a witness for the state, Cherokee County Sgt. Robert Haugh, testified that Long never said he didn’t understand the questions, asked for a lawyer or ended the interview.
Long’s lawyers then asked Haugh if he had any concerns at the time about Long pausing for “five or six seconds” before agreeing to talk to investigators about what happened that day.
Haugh said he didn’t and that he had interpreted Long’s hesitation as him “actually thinking about his response.”
Another issue raised during the motions hearing on Friday was whether or not Long had an attorney by the time he was interrogated around 1 a.m. on March 17, 2021 — the day after the shootings.
Long is already serving life in prison for the first four people he killed at massage businesses in Cherokee County on the same day, but he has pleaded not guilty in Fulton in an attempt to avoid the death penalty.
His trial was set to start last year, but it experienced continual delays due to scheduling conflicts since Glanville was also presiding over the high-profile gang and racketeering trial involving Atlanta rapper Young Thug.
Glanville is now off Young Thug’s case for holding “improper meetings” with a witness.
It’s unclear when Glanville will rule on the arguments raised at the motion’s hearing on Friday; however, he has scheduled two more hearings on Aug. 19 and Aug. 26.
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