Quickly sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Cherokee County shootings, Robert Aaron Long, 23, still faces the death penalty in the slayings of four women at two metro Atlanta spas, a process that will likely take years.
Long pleaded guilty to the Cherokee murders in July 2021 and was handed four consecutive life sentences, plus 35 years, without the possibility of parole.
Former Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace said the families of the four victims killed in her jurisdiction north of Atlanta wanted “swift justice,” without having to endure the pain of a lengthy trial and appeals process. That led her team to extend a plea deal to Long just four months after the deadly rampage. Had the case gone to trial, Wallace said she would have pursued the death penalty.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said her to decision to seek the ultimate punishment was made with the “complete support” of the Atlanta victims’ families.
Fulton prosecutors are also seeking sentencing enhancements for Long under Georgia’s relatively new hate crimes statute. That law, passed in the wake of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder in coastal Georgia, allows for stiffer punishments for anyone convicted of targeting a victim based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Long’s attorneys filed a series of motions last year seeking to keep their client off death row. They argued, among other things, that because of his youth, Long’s brain wasn’t completely developed when the 21-year-old allegedly walked into the spas and opened fire with a gun he had purchased earlier that day.
Long’s Fulton County case is assigned to Chief Judge Ural Glanville, who is also presiding over the lengthy “Young Slime Life” gang trial. That case involves 14 defendants, including Atlanta rapper Young Thug, and is expected to take up to nine months. Jury selection in that trial has been underway since January.
Glanville told attorneys earlier this year that he would try to set aside four days in May for a series of motions hearings in Long’s case, but said he was “kind of covered up” with the ongoing racketeering trial.
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