Jurors considering a murder charge against former police officer Michael Slager, who is white, for killing Walter Scott, an unarmed black motorist, were unable to reach a guilty verdict on Friday—thanks to one member of the jury.
In his defense, Mr Slager, 35, has argued that his mind felt like spaghetti when he shot Mr Scott, 50, who was at least 17-feet away from the officer, who was fired from his job following the release of cell phone video that captured the shooting. Prosecutors argued that the officer was not in danger since Mr Scott was clearly running in the opposite direction when he fired eight shots and struck the man with five bullets.
“It is clear that jurors will not be able to come to [a] consensus,” the panel told Judge Clifton Newman on Friday afternoon. Still, Judge Clifton urged jurors to make “every reasonable effort to reach a unanimous verdict” and to continue their deliberations on Monday.
At first, it seemed likely that the judge would declare a mistrial, but after one juror declined to convict the fired police officer for the April 2015 shooting, Judge Clinton said if he declares a mistrial, he would re-try the case with a new jury.
The shooting occurred after a traffic stop in April 2015 and the 12-member jury—made up of 11 white members and one black member—has heard five weeks of testimony from nearly 50 witnesses.
