Testimony is expected to continue today in Fulton County, Georgia in the trial of Robert Aaron Long following the killings of eight people in the Atlanta spa shootings.
Long has already been sentenced to a life sentence after admitting to executing the murders of four women in Cherokee County.
Prosecutors are now seeking enhanced charges under hate crime laws in Fulton County where four women were killed. He has pled not guilty.
WSB reports he could face the death penalty if convicted in Fulton County.
According to Fox5, Long told investigators he was drunk and planned to go to the massage parlor where he planned to kill himself.
“My hope is that I would hate myself enough at that point and possess enough self-loathing to end my life,” Long said in court. “I was scared of killing myself. I wanted to try to overcome that so I could. So, I went up to the liquor store.”
Less than 30 minutes after killing four people in Cherokee County, he drove to Fulton County and killed four others. He claimed to have a sex addiction.
He is accused of killing Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51 — at Gold Spa and 63-year-old Yong Ae Yue at Aromatherapy Spa in Atlanta.
He has already pled guilty to the killings of Paul Michels, 54; Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; and Delaina Yaun, 33 in Cherokee County.
Long now appears much thinner since being arrested shortly after the March 2021 killings.
A clinical Neuropsychologist took the stand in his defense on Thursday.
“If it’s a negative emotional state then there is more attention that is paid to that versus the ability to show good judgment, respond consistently, respond effectively,” Dr. Joette James said, reported WSB.
The defense is trying to prove that at 21 years of age at the time of the killings, his brain was not fully developed and thus prone to impulsive behavior and shouldn’t be facing the death penalty.
Prosecutors say his age is irrelevant.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Dylan Roof were 19 and 21 years old when they committed their crimes and both received the death penalty in federal court and both of them in the past few years have had federal court appeals reject the claims that Long is making today,” a prosecutor said.
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