Jury still out on police shooting
With one holdout, jurors are ordered to try again in officer’s videotaped killing of a fleeing Walter Scott.
ATLANTA — A South Carolina jury deliberating the fate of a white former police officer who killed an unarmed black man will continue to debate the case Monday after coming up one vote shy of a conviction.
On Friday, after deliberating for more than two days, the jury of 11 whites and one African American was unable to agree on any of its options: convicting Michael Slager of murder, convicting him of voluntary manslaughter, or acquitting him.
“I cannot in good conscience consider a guilty verdict,” a dissenting juror wrote in a letter that Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman read aloud in court Friday in Charleston, S.C.
“We all struggle with the death of a man and with all that has been put before us,” the juror wrote. “I still cannot, without a reasonable doubt, convict the defendant. At the same time, my heart does not want to have to tell the Scott family that the man who killed their son, brother and father is innocent. But with the choices, I cannot and will not change my mind.”
In separate notes, the jury foreman wrote to the judge: “It’s just one juror that has the issues” and “that juror needs to leave.”
The jurors’ inability to reach consensus, in a case that presented video of Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back, points to the challenge of convicting law enforcement officers amid a charged national debate on the use of force by police.
The April 2015 shooting in North Charleston, S.C., was one of a string of police interactions with African Americans that inspired street protests and nationwide criticism of officers’ use of force against black people. Scott’s death incited particular outrage after a bystander released a cellphone video showing Slager, 35, firing at Scott as he fled a traffic stop.
On Friday, when the jury indicated it was struggling to reach agreement, Judge Newman urged jurors to resume deliberating.
“It isn’t always easy for even two people to agree, so when 12 people must agree, it becomes even more difficult,” he said. “You have a duty to make every reasonable effort to reach a unanimous verdict. Discuss your differences with an open mind.”
A few hours later, the jurors reported that they remained deadlocked. The foreman told the court he believed an explanation of the law would help them reach consensus. A defense attorney asked the judge to call a mistrial, a motion that prosecutors opposed.
Court recessed Friday after jurors reported they were “beat” and wanted to continue deliberations Monday morning.
“I can understand if you’re beat,” Newman told the jury. “I think we’re all beat.”
If the jury fails to reach agreement, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial, it will be the second time a jury has deadlocked over a police shooting in less than a month. On Nov. 12, a judge in Ohio declared a mistrial after a jury failed to agree on the case of a white former University of Cincinnati police officer, Ray Tensing, charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black motorist, Samuel DuBose.
During Slager’s monthlong trial, prosecutors argued that he fired eight shots at Scott out of malice, ill will and total disregard for human life. Slager’s legal team countered that he shot Scott in self-defense.
The grainy eyewitness video captures the shooting but does not show the moments leading up to it. On Tuesday, Slager testified that he pulled Scott over for a broken taillight and went back to his police cruiser to write up a warning ticket. Suddenly, Scott ran from his vehicle, Slager pursued, and the two men became embroiled in a physical altercation. Slager said he was left in “total fear” after Scott grabbed his Taser and pointed it at him.
Before the jury announced it was unable to reach a decision, there were signs that it was struggling over the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. On Thursday, after nine hours of deliberating, jurors asked the judge to explain the difference between fear and passion. Although Slager’s defense hinged on his fear when he fired at Scott, the manslaughter charge involves killing in the heat of passion.
On Friday, the jury asked for the testimony of Feidin Santana, the bystander who recorded the cellphone video. Then, minutes after that request, the jury sent another note to the judge: “It is clear that jurors will not be able to come to consensus,” it read.
Community activists were stunned to hear of the deadlock Friday. Many have long drawn attention to practices by officers from the North Charleston Police Department, arguing there is a history of police profiling and excessive force against African Americans.
“You tell me that you can clearly see a man being executed on video and you cannot come up with a verdict?” said Charles Tyler, president of the Charleston chapter of the National Action Network. “That sends a strong message to people of color. The message it tells police officers is you can execute a person of color and get away with it.”
“Something is wrong with the system,” he added. “Clearly, the country is divided.”
News of the jury’s failure to reach a verdict came just a few days after a prosecutor in Charlotte, N.C., announced that no charges would be filed against Officer Brentley Vinson in the September shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man whose death inspired violent protests in North Carolina. He was not related to Walter Scott.
In that case, prosecutors said Keith Lamont Scott had a gun in his hands and that the police officer, who is black, was justified in shooting Scott when he refused to heed commands to drop it.
‘You tell me that you can clearly see a man being executed on video and you cannot come up with a verdict?’ — Charles Tyler, Charleston, S.C., chapter of the National Action Network