Ex-APD officer’s murder trial examines reasonableness of deadly force

The latest preliminary hearing on the fatal shooting of Jimmy Atchison inched the case closer to its next stage Monday. The state prosecution and defense counsel of former Atlanta Police Department Officer Sung Kim once again debated the scope and content admissible for the long-awaited jury trial on felony murder charges.

Of particular contention have been details of key moments and the degree of justification for Kim to use deadly force. 21-year-old Atchison was fleeing police on an armed robbery charge when Kim slayed him on Jan. 22, 2019, at Allen Hills Apartments on the west side of Atlanta.

Kim retired that October, and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office indicted him on Dec. 16, 2022. But those state-level charges were delayed and removed to the federal level under a federal-officer removal statute, based on Kim acting as part of an FBI task force at the time. The U.S. District Court of North Georgia delivered the removal decision in May 2024. The federal case followed weeks later.

As part of the FBI task force’s raid, Kim fatally shot unarmed Atchison, who was hiding from police in an apartment closet under a pile of clothes. In November, different members of the task force testified with different recollections of how many hands Atchison raised when commanded to and the manner in which he raised one or both hands—crucial in determining whether officers could reasonably assume Atchison was armed.

“Their expert said it was reasonable—every witness, including both of their witnesses, said it was objectively reasonable to shoot,” lead defense attorney Don Samuel said in court, referring to November testimony from the prosecution’s experts on police use of deadly force. “Officer Kim said he didn’t know it was Atchison but knew he was there, a safe assumption he was in the apartment.”

The prosecution maintained a different opinion of experts’ testimony.

“Nobody knew who was under the clothing, to see what was in their hand,” said lead prosecutor Brian Watkins, currently serving as the Fulton County Deputy District Attorney in the Civil Rights Division. “The state just doesn’t see that as reasonable conduct. A jury can be the judge of the credibility of officers testifying about other officers.”

Watkins said the particularities of this case have little precedence in case law to draw from, making the judge’s and potential jurors’ discernment all the more difficult.

The court did not specify the date of the next hearing, though prosecutors noted further court briefs were scheduled for submission next week.

A father’s quest for justice

Jimmy Hill, Atchison’s father, has persisted for six years and counting in seeking a conviction against Kim, through delays and health problems. For him and his community, this murder case could hardly be clearer.

“He’s got a history of being overaggressive and disobeying orders,” Hill said of Kim. “I’d like that justice prevail — some type of accountability for the murder of my son. I’m expecting the judge to do the right thing, to stand up for truth and justice. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it.”

Hill listed many more reasons he believes there’s no excuse and the trial should result in conviction: the secluded area, the shield available to Kim during the raid but not in the room, having Atchison surrounded, the ability to call in a SWAT team and the officer-created exigency of rushing into and through the apartment. State experts emphasized in November the need to examine the exigency, which they identified as a series of Kim’s and the task force’s decisions that unnecessarily elevated the situation’s danger.

“Time for everyone, all nationalities, to come together and say ‘Enough is enough,’” Hill said. “I just wish people would stop being so selfish and ignorant to the fact that there are no books on how not to become a victim of police brutality. Young or old, as long as you’re Black, you’ll be murdered. They lie and we die.”