Expert Weighs in on Slager Mistrial
What it Could Mean for Other Officer-Involved Shootings
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)- After over 20 hours of deliberation, the jury in the case of former police officer Michael Slager failed to reach a collective consensus. ABC Columbia spoke with USC Professor of Law Colin Miller to break down what the mistrial means.
“We have to have a unanimous verdict whether that is guilty or not guilty and when you have a certain umber of jurors for guilty and a certain number for not guilty, we have gridlock, they can’t get unanimity,we a hung jury and its a mistrial. We have to start the process over again,” said Miller.
The mistrial came after Judge Clifton Newman granted the jury more time to think about the case over the weekend before continuing deliberations Monday.
“The judge did what was know as an Allen Charge which is essentially when you have that gridlocked jury and you have a lack of unanimity it is not uncommon at all for a judge to give that Allen Charge and say ‘we’ve gone through a whole trial, we’ve had resources used. We’d like to have a decision,’ then give them a day or in this case over the weekend to think it over.”
In Slager’s case, one juror said it was impossible for him to reach a guilty verdict.
“Jury nullification is something where a juror, despite finding the evidence points towards guilt, says ‘I morally speaking can’t convict.’ Sometimes we look at that as a good thing and sometimes we look at that as a bad thing,” said Miller.
Slager gained national attention after cell phone video was released of him firing his gun at Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man. Experts say this trial may set the tone for similar cases in the future.
“I think a lot of people look at this case and say this is about the strongest possible case you’re going to have in a police shooting and even in this case, we ended with a hung jury and mistrial so that’s something that I think is going to create a difficult climate where if you have these cases in the future you can imagine prosecutors looking at this case and having a difficult time getting an indictment or getting a conviction in a future trial,” said Miller.
