On Monday, a South Carolina grand jury indicted former North Charleston police officer Michael T. Slager on a murder charge for the April shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man whose death, caught on video, sparked national outcry over police conduct.
The New York Times reports:
The former officer, Michael T. Slager, had been jailed on a murder charge since April 7, when the video became public. Mr. Slager’s lawyers have so far made no request for bail, and his indictment in Charleston County had been widely expected. The North Charleston Police Department fired him after the shooting, which city officials criticized in stark and unsparing terms.
Despite the intensive publicity surrounding the shooting, Scarlett A. Wilson, the local prosecutor, said Monday that she believed a local jury could be impaneled and would be able to arrive at an unbiased verdict. A trial date has not been set.
Slager became one of at least three white officers to be charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black man in South Carolina over the past year. As Mother Jones has previously reported, Slager’s indictment is rare, given how few cases result in charges.
