The video that emerged of the shooting death of Walter Scott seemed pretty clear.
On April 4, 2015 in North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer Michael Slager pulled Scott over for a broken taillight. At some point, an altercation ensued, and police said that Scott attempted to wrestle Slager's stun gun from him. The incident ended with Slager fatally shooting Scott--an unarmed man--in the back as he ran away.
Because of the damning video evidence, Slager was fired from the North Charleston Police Department and charged with murder. At his trial, however, a judge also allowed the jury to consider a charge of voluntary manslaughter.
It seemed almost like a slam-dunk case: remember, there is video evidence of Slager shooting Scott as he ran away.
But instead of returning a guilty verdict, the jury could not reach a decision in the case. On Monday, a judge declared a mistrial.
Prosecutors are calling the act "delayed justice," but they say that justice will be served. An attorney for the Scott family said Slager "dodged it by a hair, and he's not dodging it again."
South Carolina governor Nikki Haley issued a statement after the mistrial was announced, saying that justice "is not always immediate, but we must all have faith that it will be served."
Her sentiment is mirrored by National Action Network South Carolina President James Johnson, who urged patience despite the disappointing outcome:
"I urge the people to let the justice system take its course. Let's wait on the next trial before we decide to do anything stupid. We've got to live here. We don't want people coming from outside of Charleston [to protest]."
The 12-person jury was deadlocked by a single dissenter who wrote a letterto the court saying, "I cannot in good conscience consider a guilty verdict," against Michael Slager. The letter continued, "I cannot and will notchange my mind."
The foreperson for the jury told the judge that only that one juror was "having issues." When the judge offered to let the jury hear audio of the testimony in the case, jurors declined, saying that they didn't believe it would change anything and that they could not come to a unanimous decision for conviction.
As for when Michael Slager will again be tried for the shooting of Walter Scott,Governor Haley said, "It is my understanding that there will be, as quickly as possible, a new trial where the Scott family and all of South Carolina will hopefully receive the closure that a verdict brings."
Image credit: Beth Cortez-Neavel
