Statements man charged in Atlanta spa killings made post-arrest can be used at trial, judge rules - The Independent

[Kate Brumback]

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A judge on Monday rejected an attempt by attorneys for a man accused of killing four women at Atlanta massage businesses to keep a jury from hearing statements he made after his arrest.

Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville made his ruling at the end of a motions hearing for Robert Aaron Long, who faces the death penalty in the March 2021, killings in Atlanta. Long is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for killing four people at a massage business in suburban Cherokee County just hours earlier.

Long's attorneys were trying to keep prosecutors from using statements Long made to police after he was arrested later that night. The judge said those statements, as well as statements from his guilty plea in Cherokee County, can be used at trial, though he said he would consider defense objections to parts of the statements.

Long, 25, killed four people at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County on March 16, 2021: Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54. Authorities say he then drove about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south to Atlanta, where he killed three women — Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51 — at Gold Spa and then crossed the street and killed Yong Ae Yue, 63, at Aromatherapy Spa.

Two of the Cherokee County victims and all of the Atlanta victims were women of Asian descent. Prosecutors in Fulton County are seeking the death penalty and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement in the Atlanta killings. Prosecutors in Cherokee County didn’t seek the death penalty, and Long pleaded guilty there just months after the killings.

Daran Burns, a Cherokee County defense attorney, testified that he was appointed to represent Long shortly after Long's arrest in Crisp County. He said he immediately texted the Cherokee County sheriff to say he had been appointed and wanted to be present for any interviews law enforcement did with Long. He said Cherokee County's district attorney at the time, Shannon Wallace, called him and seemed to question the validity of his appointment.

Burns said it was clear to him from his conversation with Wallace that investigators were either talking to Long or about to start talking to him. According to court testimony, law enforcement officers from Cherokee County and Atlanta interviewed Long several hours after his arrest.

“What I saw as a problem was that this case was getting started without Mr. Long having representation,” Burns testified.

Jerilyn Bell, an attorney for Long in Fulton County, said there was time for Burns to drive to Crisp County before investigators began interviewing Long hours after his arrest, but that Burns didn't even try because Wallace had led him to believe questioning was imminent or had already begun. That effectively violated Long's right to an attorney under the Sixth Amendment, Bell argued.

Prosecutor Kevin Armstrong argued that it was his understanding from Burns' testimony that Wallace did not believe Burns had been properly appointed and that Long hadn't asked for appointed counsel or demonstrated that he needed it. Long's statements were “voluntarily, willingly and intelligently made,” Armstrong said.

The killings sparked outrage and fear among Asian American, who were already facing hostility linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Many were particularly upset when authorities suggested that Long’s crimes weren’t racially motivated and instead stemmed from a sex addiction, which isn’t recognized as an official disorder.

Long told investigators he struggled with pornography and sex and believed he was an addict. When he viewed porn or engaged in sexual acts at massage businesses, he felt tremendous guilt, Wallace said during Long's sentencing hearing in Cherokee County.

The charges against Long in Fulton County include murder, aggravated assault and domestic terrorism. No trial date has been set. Glanville on Monday scheduled the next hearings in the case for the end of April.