Bail approved for ex-officer charged in shooting death

Former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager speaks during a hearing in front of Judge Clifton Newman in Charleston, S.C., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. He ordered Slager freed on a $500,000 surety bond, saying the ex-cop would have to remain in SC once released.

Michael Slager, who’s charged with murder in the shooting death of Walter Scott, was released from jail on Monday after posting bail.

Slager, 34, faces 30 years to life without parole if convicted. His trial has been pushed back to give precedence to the trial of Dylann Roof, the self-proclaimed White supremacist who shot and killed nine parishioners at a historic Black church due to their skin color.

Bamberg urged the Charleston community to remain calm after Slager’s bond was set. The South Carolina Supreme Court has suspended all trials until after Dylan Roof’s trial, which is scheduled for July.

Savage said he was prepared to go to court this spring.

In a filing last week, Wilson referenced a number of cases in which inmates were help considerably longer than Slager has been without a trial date, including a few people who waited several years. Feidin Santana, recorded the shooting and showed the video to Scott’s family.

Slager spoke during the hearing, saying, “I look forward to going to court and clearing my name”. “They will now anxiously await Michael Slager’s criminal trial and continue to thank the community for their prayers and support”.

The prospect of months more behind bars prompted Newman to reconsider his decision denying bail in September, when he labeled Slager a danger to the community and a flight risk. He was taken into custody in April 2015 and placed in solitary confinement for his well-being. They need time to prepare, they said in asking for a November trial date for Slager.

Michael Slager is charged in the death of Walter Scott. A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said late Monday a jail employee mistakenly posted that Slager had bonded out of jail. That ruling came after Savage and the lead prosecutor, 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, made impassioned pleas for and against his release.

“Of course the family is not happy about it”, Justin Bamberg, the Scott family attorney, told BuzzFeed News. “Everybody is kind of focusing on that”.