A mistrial has been declared in the trial of a South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the death of a black motorist.
Circuit Judge Clifton Newman declared the mistrial after a jury said Monday that it was unable to unanimously agree on a verdict for Michael Slager.
The judge had told jurors they could also consider a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Slager was standing trial for shooting 50-year-old Walter Scott to death in North Charleston after stopping him for having a broken taillight. Cellphone video taken by a bystander of the shooting was shown widely in the media and on the internet and sparked national outrage.
Race was never made a major issue at trial, even though Slager is white and Scott was black.
Jurors had deliberated more than 22 hours over four days.
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A travesty of justice.
Sounds like someone stuck to their guns and wouldn’t settle for a lesser charge.
This will get retried, right?
In theory, it depends on if the prosecutors put the case back in. It sounds like there was one juror who refused to convict on any charge, and would not be convinced no matter what. The foreperson (a black man) was really pissed off about the situation, it will be interesting to see what the jurors have to say about it when their comments go public.
Much like after the verdict in the Malheur trial and election night here in NC, I feel deeply ashamed. We’ve got to keep fighting.
You don’t know what happened. The reporting has it that it was 11-1 convict, though which charge wasn’t specified.
the spaghetti defense: my brains wuz like da spaget. shit, almost wuz tazed. then the punk wants me to go all footchase? no fuckin way. 8 in da back. justice served. end of story.