COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lawyers for a former South Carolina police officer want statements he gave investigators tossed out of his upcoming federal trial for killing an unarmed man running away from a traffic stop.
Michael Slager’s lawyers filed a motion Friday saying that Slager only spoke to investigators two days after the April 2015 shooting because his first lawyer was told there was no video of the shooting.
Defense attorney Andy Savage says State Law Enforcement agents already had watched the bystander video eventually broadcast worldwide of Walter Scott’s shooting with prosecutors.
Prosecutors have argued that investigators are allowed to be deceptive.
Slager’s federal trial for violating Scott’s civil rights is scheduled to start in May. State prosecutors have charged him with murder, but Slager’s first trial ended in a hung jury.
