Mistrial declared in Michael Slager murder trial
The case against Michael Slager, the former North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer who shot Walter Scott, ended in a mistrial Monday after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision. Slager, who is white, was charged with murder after a video surfaced of him shooting Scott, a black man, in the back multiple times as Scott ran away after Slager pulled him over for a broken taillight in April 2015.
Judge Clifton Newman made the declaration after 22 hours of deliberation by the jury. Three days ago, the jury revealed it was just one vote away from handing over a guilty verdict. The outlying juror had maintained in a statement that he would not change his vote:
Text of note from #slagertrial jury read by judge (typed by me). #chs #chsnews #walterscott pic.twitter.com/tJiBhUnvXj
— brenda rindge (@brindge) December 2, 2016
It is not yet clear whether prosecutors will retry Slager.
