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South Carolina

The Latest: Prosecutor: Officer's shooting not justified

Associated Press
Published | Updated

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Latest on the trial of a white South Carolina police officer charged with the murder of an unarmed black man (all times local):

10:10 a.m.

Prosecutors say a white former police officer may have been provoked by an unarmed black motorist, but he wasn't justified in shooting him.

Solicitor Scarlett Wilson told a jury of 11 whites and one black in her opening statement on Thursday that former officer Michael Slager may have been provoked if Walter Scott wrestled his Taser from him.

But Wilson says that doesn't justify Scott being shot eight times as he ran from the officer.

Slager faces 30 years to life if convicted of murder in the April 2015 shooting death of the 50-year-old Scott as Scott fled a traffic stop in North Charleston.

Before jurors entered the courtroom, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that Slager can remain free on bond during his trial.

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10 a.m.

The white former police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist will be allowed to stay out of jail during his trial.

Judge Clifton Newman ruled Thursday morning that Michael Slager can remain free on bond during his trial.

Slager faces 30 years to life if convicted of murder in the April 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott as Scott fled a traffic stop in North Charleston.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys are giving opening statements Thursday morning before a panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror.

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3:20 a.m.

Opening statements are getting started in the murder trial of a white former police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist.

The trial unfolds against a backdrop of violence by and toward police across the nation.

A panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror will hear the case Thursday in a Charleston courtroom.

Michael Slager faces 30 years to life if convicted of murder in the April 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott as he fled a traffic stop in North Charleston.

In Ohio, a trial is underway for a white campus police officer charged in the death of a black man. And on Wednesday, authorities apprehended a suspect in the deaths of two Iowa officers shot while sitting in their patrol cars.