Family not happy officer out on bond in motorist’s death

Michael Slager, the former SC police officer charged with murder in the April shooting of Walter Scott, was released from prison on Monday after posting bail.

Defence lawyers argued that Slager was not a flight risk and had been violently attacked by Scott in a confrontation after Scott fled a routine traffic stop and Slager chased him.

The release of Michael Slager on bond Monday was a disappointment to the family of the victim, Walter Scott, said Justin Bamberg, the attorney for the family.

Judge Clifton Newman granted the bond and assigned a trial date on Monday. When he chose to set bond, according to CNN affiliates, the judge said he’d taken into consideration the lengthy amount of time the accused former officer would have to wait behind bars before having his day in court.

He will be held under house arrest and can not have any contact with Scott’s family. The case enflamed a national debate about how blacks are treated by white police officers.

If found guilty, Slager faces the death penalty or 30 years to life in prison. Newman also set an October 31 trial date. I look forward to going to court and clearing my name.

However, prosecutor Scarlett Wilson is also prosecuting Dylann Roof, the white suspect in the killings of nine black parishoners at a Charleston church, in a July trial. Slager was originally denied bond in September of past year. Slager is shown on cellphone video firing eight times.

In granting bond for the former North Charleston police officer, the judge recognized that Slager is presumed innocent and “should not be punished by remaining in jail during a lengthy pretrial delay”, his attorney, Cameron Jane Blazer, an associate attorney with Savage Law Firm, said in a statement.

“I don’t think Mr. Slager had any remorse after watching that video”, Scott’s father Walter Scott Sr. pleaded with the court before the decision was announced. A state judge on Monday ordered that jury selection in the case will begin on Halloween.

Bamberg said Scott’s family was not happy that Slager had been granted bail. “It’s not doing anything that is going to have an effect on the criminal trial process. The only thing that that can do is land you where Officer Slager is right now”.

Attorneys for Slager, who is charged with murder in the shooting death of Walter Scott last April, had said they would be ready for trial this spring.