Accused Atlanta-area spa shooter murder's case moving ahead after attorney issue resolved
The murder case of Robert Aaron Long, the man accused of a series of deadly shootings at metro Atlanta spas and massage parlors, can move forward after an issue with his legal representation has been solved.
Last week, the public defender representing Long told Judge Ural Glanville that the Fulton County Public Defender's office has struggled to find another attorney available for the case after a public defender left months ago. Because Fulton County prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty, Long need to have two attorneys qualified to argue such cases.
The challenges with finding qualified attorneys left the case "at an impasse" over five years after Long was arrested, Glanville said during Thursday's status hearing.
"We've got four months and nothing's occurred," Glanville told the attorneys. "I don't think that sits well for any of us."
On Monday, Attorney Nathanial Studelska, the director of Georgia Capitol Defender, told the judge that he would act as counsel to make sure that Long's rights are protected.
Studelska also asked Glanville for additional time so that he could take a deeper dive into the case material, requesting another status hearing in three to four weeks so that he have a cursory review of the information. Glanville agreed, setting the next hearing for the morning of June 29.
Long is facing charges that include murder, aggravated assault, and domestic terrorism in Fulton County.
Eight dead, 1 injured in Atlanta-area spa shootings
On the afternoon of March 16, 2021, then-21-year-old Long is accused of buying a gun and shooting five people at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County. Long then drove about 30 miles south to Atlanta, where he shot three women at Gold Spa and one woman across the street at Aromatherapy Spa, police have said.
Authorities say Long intended to carry out similar attacks in Florida, but his parents had called police after recognizing their son in images from security video posted online. His parents were tracking his movements through an application on his phone, which allowed authorities to find him and take him into custody on Interstate 75 in Crisp County.
Long is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in Cherokee County after he pleaded guilty to murder just months after the killings. In Fulton County, however, he pleaded not guilty after District Attorney Fani Willis filed notice that she would seek the death penalty and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement in the Atlanta killings.
Under Georgia law, an individual can not be convicted of a standalone hate crime. After a person is convicted of an underlying crime, a jury must determine whether the crime was motivated by bias, which carries an additional penalty.
Long told investigators he struggled with pornography and sex and believed he was an addict. Authorities say Long claimed that the killings were not racially motivated, saying that he targeted the businesses because of his addiction.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
