It took five years for prosecutors to charge the officers on a fugitive task force accused of shooting 26-year-old Jamarion Robinson 75 times inside his girlfriend’s East Point, Georgia, apartment in 2016. Now, Fulton County prosecutors, involved in a tug-of-war with federal officials over who should try the case, want to bring additional charges against the officers. On Monday, a three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard their argument to add charges of conspiracy to commit murder and malice murder. Eric A. Heinze (left) Kristopher L. Hutchens (right) appear in mugshots released by the Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office. The case stretches back to 2016 when the Atlanta Police Department issued an arrest warrant for Robinson, who had allegedly poured gasoline on the floor of his mother’s house and pointed a gun at officers trying to apprehend him at a friend’s apartment. Officers Eric Heinze and Kristopher Hutchens, part of a U.S. Marshals regional task force team assembled to help local police catch up on outstanding warrants, were assigned to execute an arrest warrant for Robinson. They tracked him down to his girlfriend’s apartment and were met with two rounds fired by the suspect, an unmedicated schizophrenic. None of the officers were injured. They responded by firing 90 rounds into the apartment. Robinson, who played football for Clark Atlanta University, was pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors said Heinze and Hutchens used excessive force by continuing to shoot at Robinson even after he was unresponsive. One report confirmed Robinson’s “hands and arms were shot to bits,” leading to speculation the officers shot him at close range. Heinze and Hutchens were both charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, burglary, making false statements and violation of oath by a public officer after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought the case before a grand jury in October 2021. The accused officers appeared in state court in March 2022 and pleaded not guilty. The court eventually ruled that the case should be tried by the feds since the officers were part of a federal task force. A federal grand jury subsequently indicted Heinze on two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary in the first degree, making a false statement and violation of oath by a public officer. Hutchens faces the same charges along with one count of making a false statement; prosecutors allege the officers lied about holding fire after a stun grenade was thrown. Georgia prosecutors filed a motion to seek a superseding indictment that would charge the officers with malice murder, an additional count of felony murder, and conspiracy to make false statements to the grand jury. But U.S. Northern District Judge Victoria Calvert denied the request, sending the case to the three-judge panel that heard arguments this week. Prosecutors hope to secure a limited remand, an order moving the case back to state court for the sole purpose of filing additional charges. Three judges — Robert Luck, Barbara Lagoa and Elizabeth Branch — from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit are hearing the state’s case. Each was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump. So far, they seem skeptical. Lagoa said the state could have shown up at the district court hearing and presented a superseding indictment. Luck said even as the case continues in federal court — the filings from Fulton County have delayed proceedings — the state can still bring the additional charges. Just bringing any criminal charges against the officers was an uphill climb. Former Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice in 2019, accusing federal authorities of hindering his office’s investigation into Robinson’s death. Howard accused the Justice Department of refusing to release documents about the shooting. He alleged investigators were blocked from interviewing officers involved in the fatal shooting for more than a year and a half. Jamarion’s mother, Monteria Robinson, never stopped pushing for justice. She kept the case in the media spotlight, appearing at rallies and placing murals of her late son all over Atlanta. “I was like, this is what I’m going to do, since y’all not going to say my son’s name, y’all going to see his face every corner y’all turn,” she said. She also filed a civil legal action for monetary damages for excessive force, but the claim was dismissed on mainly procedural grounds. In her lawsuit, Robinson said her son “presented no immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury” to the officers on the scene, who had been told that he had a history of mental illness. Instead, police “broke down the front door” and “began ‘spraying.'” White Georgia Cops Who Shot 26-Year-Old Black Man’s ‘Hands and Arms … to Bits’ After Firing 90 Rounds Into An Apartment Could Face Upgraded Charges Thanks to Fani Willis’ Office