Officer to be sentenced in shooting of unarmed man
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A former South Carolina police officer will soon learn how long he’ll spend in prison for the shooting death — captured on video by a witness — of an unarmed motorist.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin in Charleston on Monday for Michael Slager, the former North Charleston police officer in jail since pleading guilty in May to violating Scott’s civil rights. Scott was black. Slager is white.
The Scott family last year reached a $6.5 million settlement with the city of North Charleston. Slager, 36, pulled Scott over on April 4, 2015, for a broken brake light. The officer said he shot the 50-year-old in self-defense when Scott tried to grab his Taser.
But a bystander with a cell phone captured the shooting on video that contradicted Slager’s version of events. The video showed Scott getting about 17 feet from Slager before the officer fired eight times at his back. Scott then crumples to the ground, struck by five bullets as he ran away.
State prosecutors went after Slager on murder charges, but a panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror deadlocked last year after 22 hours of deliberations over four days.
While that case was ongoing, federal authorities pursued a parallel investigation against Slager on civil rights charges. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson had planned to bring a second case against Slager later this year, but those charges were dropped as part of his federal plea deal.
In Slager’s federal sentencing, a judge will determine if Scott’s shooting was voluntary manslaughter or murder. Prosecutors have argued for the latter determination, which would make Slager eligible for a life sentence.
Slager’s attorneys have asked for a reduction in his possible sentence, saying that, due to the nature of his case, he had a “high susceptibility of prison abuse.” During the prosecution against him, Slager’s attorneys noted, the former officer’s home was set on fire, and his family since moved to another location.
Justin Bamberg, an attorney for the Scott family, said he felt Slager’s actions warranted a life sentence but that his clients would never truly get closure.
“I think everybody’s just ready to close this chapter of life and start the next chapter,” Bamberg said. “But all of them end the same way, and that is that Walter’s not here.”