South Carolina

Jurors in Slager trial deliberate after monthlong trial

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, center, sits in the courtroom during his murder trial at the Charleston County court in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. Closing arguments are underway in a South Carolina courtroom in the trial of a white former police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist. (Grace Beahm/Post and Courier via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, right, sits in the courtroom during his murder trial at the Charleston County court in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. The case of a former South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist is now before the jury. (Grace Beahm/Post and Courier via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson speaks to the jury during the murder trial of North Charleston police officer Michael Slager at the Charleston County court in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. Closing arguments are underway in a South Carolina courtroom in the trial of a white former police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist. (Grace Beahm/Post and Courier via AP, Pool) (The Associated Press)

Jurors in the Michael Slager murder trial will resume deliberating the fate of the white former South Carolina patrolman charged with killing a black motorist.

Slager is charged in the shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott, who was shot five times in the back while running from a traffic stop in April of last year.

Although Slager was charged with murder after cellphone video of the shooting surfaced, Circuit Judge Clifton Newman told jurors Wednesday that they could consider a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

The jury of one black man and 11 whites will return to the Charleston County Courthouse to resume deliberations Thursday. The judge instructed them in the law and they began their discussions late Wednesday, considering the case for about an hour before breaking for the night.