Lawyers representing former Charleston South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, whose trial in state court over killing an unarmed black motorist in 2015 ended in a hung jury in December, requested Monday for the dismissal of federal charges against their client. Slager’s lawyers filed a request in federal court saying that it was “crushing” and “unfair” for the former officer to defend himself over shooting and killing Walter Scott against state and federal charges simultaneously, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.
It has been reported that President Donald Trump’s administration was considering dropping federal charges against Slager, but his civil rights trial is scheduled to start May 15. Slager, 35, is charged in U.S. District Court with violating Scott’s rights, lying to investigators and discharging a firearm amid a violent crime.
Slager, who is white, faces life in prison after being videotaped shooting Scott in the back eight times in April 2015 while the 50 year old was running away. Slager maintained throughout his testimony that lethal force was necessary for self-defense after Scott was able to get a hold of his Taser gun and attack him with it, CNN reported.
“The crushing financial, emotional, physical, and time requirements necessary to defend such a case amount to a violation of the federal constitution,” Slager’s lawyer argued in the motion. It added that the double prosecution was “absolutely unnecessary to the ends of justice” and that it, “ presents serious issues of due process, double jeopardy, and cruel and unusual punishment.”
Slager is scheduled to face state murder charges in August after an initial trial ended in a hung jury in December. If convicted, Slager will be handed a sentence of 30 years to life without parole.
Jurors for the federal trial will be chosen from all parts of South Carolina after defense attorney Andy Savage implored U.S. District Judge David Norton last month for a district-wide jury so that the panel would be impartial, according to a judge’s order obtained by the Post and Courier Monday.
Scott was one of 968 people killed by police officers in the U.S. in 2015, the Washington Post reported. Although black men represent roughly 6 percent of the U.S. population, they constituted 40 percent of Americans who were killed while unarmed.
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