COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The Latest on the upcoming federal trial of a white former South Carolina police officer in the killing of a black driver (all times local):
5:05 p.m.
A former South Carolina police officer charged with killing an unarmed driver running from a traffic stop is again asking video of the shooting not be shown at his trial.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors filed a flurry of motions Friday in the scheduled May federal trial of Michael Slager.
Along with asking a judge to rule not to show the widely-viewed bystander video of Walter Scott’s death, Slager’s lawyers want jurors to see the shooting scene.,
Prosecutors are asking a judge to not let defense attorneys refer to police officers who die in the line of duty or suggest jurors can send a message about the treatment of police through a not guilty verdict.
Eleven motions were filed Friday. Slager faces federal charges he violated Scott’s civil rights.
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12:35 p.m.
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.
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