Jury Fails to Reach Verdict in Trial of Cop Who Shot Walter Scott

A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in North Charleston, South Carolina.

After three days of deliberation, a 12-member jury failed to reach a verdict in the trial of 35-year-old Michael Slager, a South Jersey Native, in the death of 50-year-old Walter Scott on Friday, the New York Daily News reports.

In response to a note from the jury stating it was “clear they wouldn’t reach a consensus,” Judge Clifton Newman issued an Allen Charge, telling the jury to reconsider, according to the report.

Later Friday afternoon, the jury asked for further clarification of the law.

There appeared to be one holdout on the jury, which consists of 11 white people and 1 African-American.

The jury passed the judge two notes within 12 minutes of each other earlier in the day on Friday, one asking for a transcript of witness testimony and the other telling the judge they couldn't reach a consensus, according to CNN.

Newman asked the jury if they still wanted a record of the testimony, which was available by audio. When they said no, he told them they must deliberate more.

"You should not give up your firmly held opinions just to be in agreement," NPR quoted Newman as saying, but "the majority should consider the minority's position, and the minority should consider the majority's position."

The jury questioned if there was a difference between passion and fear after Newman gave them the option of convicting Slager of manslaughter as opposed to murder, according to CBS News. The judge said the court couldn't answer that question for them.

If the jury ultimately fails to reach a verdict, Newman said he will declare a mistrial and call for a re-trial with a new jury, according to Reuters.

Testimony ended earlier this week when Slager took the stand, telling the court he was "consumed by total fear" in the moments leading up to the shooting.

Slager was charged and fired from his job as an officer with the North Charleston Police Department after a video of the incident surfaced.

The video shows Slager shooting Scott eight times. Slager claimed he used his taser on Scott first. He also said on the police radio that Scott had taken his taser, but the video shows Scott didn't have a taser when he was shot, and that Slager dropped his taser next to Scott following the shooting.

In his testimony, Slager said he couldn’t recall what happened because his “mind was like spaghetti.”

The attached image of Michael Slager was posted on Twitter by Charleston County Police