Mistrial for killer SC cop
‘Lone juror’ would not OK guilty verdict
CHARLESTON, SC — A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a former South Carolina police officer charged with murder for fatally shooting a black motorist who was running away from him.
After more than 22 hours of deliberation in the case against Michael Slager, jurors told Circuit Judge Clifton Newman they were hopelessly deadlocked.
“We as the jury regret to inform the court, despite our best efforts, we are unable to come to a unanimous decision,” Newman read from a jury note before a packed courtroom as the family of victim Walter Scott bowed their heads in disappointment.
Two women on the panel began to cry and one man shook his head as Charleston Solicitor Scarlett Wilson commended ju- rors for their hard work.
Slager, 35, was captured on cellphone video pumping five bullets into Walter Scott, 50, in North Charleston after pulling him over for a broken taillight. Scott was running away as he was shot, his back to the officer.
The video, taken by a bystander, went viral and sparked national outrage. Afterward, the North Charleston Police Department fired Slager.
Scott’s mother, Judy, made an emotional statement to the press outside the courthouse following the trial’s inconclusive end.
“If you thought we were going to come out here crying or weeping or weak, you don’t know the Scott family,” she said. “It’s not over, y’all hear me? It’s not over until God says it’s over.” She added that prosecutors already announced in a statement that they planned to retry the case. Slager also faces a federal trial next year on charges of obstruction of justice and violations of civil rights stemming from the same April 4, 2015, encounter. The jurors, one of whom was black and 11 white, were escorted to their cars by police and did not speak after leaving the courthouse. Twice on Friday, the jurors told Judge Newman they had reached a stalemate, possibly over a lone holdout, after one juror sent a letter directly to the judge saying he could not “with good conscience approve a guilty verdict.”
The juror added he was not about to change his mind, but the judge urged the panel to continue this week.
During the five-week trial, Slager took the stand and told jurors that he feared for his life after Scott got control of his stun gun — a claim that was not corroborated by the video.
“At that point, I pulled my firearm and pulled the trigger,” he testified. “I fired until the threat was stopped as I was trained to do.”
He added that he was in “total fear” at that moment.
Defense lawyer Andy Savage argued that there was much more to the case than the incendiary video that showed Slager firing eight shots at a fleeing man.
Slager faces 30 years to life in prison for murder, but jurors could have considered a lesser charge of manslaughter.