Atlanta spa shooter Robert Aaron Long asks for no cameras at trial
Accused spa shooter Robert Aaron Long in court
Convicted killer Robert Long was back in court on Monday. This time in Fulton County where he is accused of killing four spa workers in Atlanta in 2021. Long is already serving prison time for similar crimes he committed in Cherokee County.
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Robert Aaron Long, the man accused in the 2021 spa shootings that left eight people dead in metro Atlanta, returned to court in Fulton County on Monday.
Fulton County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the 2021 killings of four spa workers in Atlanta.
Who is Robert Aaron Long?
What we know:
Long, 25, is already serving multiple life sentences after pleading guilty to killing four people at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County, the first attack in a series of shootings that also targeted two spas in Atlanta. Four additional victims were killed in the city, most of them women of Asian descent, in an attack that drew national attention and devastated Atlanta’s Asian American community.
In Fulton County, Long faces 19 charges, including felony murder and domestic terrorism. District Attorney Fani Willis has said she will seek the death penalty. Several of Long’s pending motions challenge Georgia’s death penalty process, including one that argues the state’s lethal injection law is unconstitutional.
Long was arrested hours after the shootings and told investigators he targeted the businesses because he blamed them for fueling his sex addiction.
Robert Long
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Atlanta spa shooting trial
What they're saying:
On Monday, Long’s attorneys asked the judge to bar the media from the pretrial hearings, arguing coverage could taint the jury pool. They called a legal expert to testify, who said, "Obviously, there's different types of bias, but when we talk about pre-tropical city bias, we find it doesn't matter. Pre-tropicity bias, it doesn't matter who you are, it affects you."
The other side:
Prosecutors pushed back, with one saying, "What you did not hear in any of the testimony presented in this court today is that the media who's reporting on free trial hearings is doing so in any inaccurate, irresponsible, inflammatory way. And that's essentially what the court has to determine whether to close a court. There's something that overarchingly calls for that."
What's next:
The judge did not rule on the media access issue and said he will hear arguments from media representatives Thursday. The evidentiary hearings are expected to continue throughout the week.