Jury going into next week in ex-officer’s murder trial

Jurors in SC weighing homicide charges against a white former policeman who fatally shot a fleeing black motorist previous year were to resume deliberations on Monday after earlier declaring they were deadlocked, with one panelist holding out against a conviction.

They had also sought to listen to the testimony of Feidin Santana, the man who filmed the white patrolman, Michael Slager, shooting Scott in the back as the black man ran away.

“And we will go through this whole process again”, he told the jurors.

Slager also faces a federal civil rights charge stemming from the shooting and could face up to life in prison if convicted in that case.

Slager initially claimed that he’d fired on Scott out of fear for his life, alleging Scott had grabbed his Taser.

According to the official report, in the April 2015 incident, Scott bolted from his auto while Slager was walking back to his vehicle to check license details. That juror then submitted a letter declaring, “I can not and will not change my mind”.

Slager, 35, shot Scott several times in the back in April 2015 as he fled from a traffic stop.

“When you take an oath to become a juror, you’re signing up for certain things, and so that charge is specific to say, you all have to reach a unanimous verdict, or say we’re deadlocked”, said former District Attorney John Snyder.

An emotional Slager testified this week that he pulled over Scot for a broken tail light on April 4, 2015.

A separate note from the jury room appeared to indicate there was only one holdout juror and the rest were willing to convict Slager on one of the two possible counts between murder and voluntary manslaughter. The shooting was captured in its entirety on bystander video, showing unambiguously that Slager killed the fleeing Scott from behind.

The 12-member jury – comprised of 11 white members and one African-American – heard testimony from 55 witnesses during the month-long trial.

Returning to the courtroom Friday afternoon, Slager sat at the defense table alone staring straight ahead as he awaited any word from the jury. Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson opposed Savage’s motion for a mistrial.

On Thursday evening jurors asked Newman to tell them how the “heat of passion” differs from fear.

The request comes an hour after the jury told the judge that they were deadlocked in reaching an unanimous verdict.

Jurors were instructed to keep deliberating in the trial of Michael Slager. In recent years, video of the police killings of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, and Keith Lamont Scott failed to cause criminal charges to even be filed, let alone convictions to be made.

The indictment continues, “In truth and in fact, as defendant MICHAEL SLAGER then well knew, he (SLAGER) repeatedly fired his weapon at Scott as Scott was running away from him”.