CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A former South Carolina policeman charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist will remain under house arrest until his trial begins in the fall.
The attorney for ex-officer Michael Slager said Tuesday that he’s gratified by his client’s release from jail, but the family of victim Walter Scott said through a spokesman that they’re disappointed.
“In granting Michael bond, Judge Newman recognized that Michael is presumed innocent and that he should not be punished by remaining in jail during a lengthy pretrial delay,” Slager’s attorney Andy Savage said in a statement.
Scott’s family “believes at the end of the day that justice will prevail,” family attorney Justin Bamberg said shortly after the ruling Monday.
Until he was released, Slager had been in solitary confinement at the Charleston County Detention Center since the incident last April. Now, Slager will have to remain at an undisclosed location in South Carolina and must have no contact with the victim’s family. He faces 30 years to life without parole if convicted of murder.
Slager, a 34-year-old former North Charleston officer, is shown on cellphone video firing eight times as Scott ran from a traffic stop. The case inflamed a national debate about how blacks are treated by white police officers.
Civil rights activists planned a Tuesday news conference outside the jail to discuss the development.
During an hourlong hearing Monday, Judge Clifton Newman heard Savage argue that his client should be granted a speedy trial.
Savage said he was prepared to go to court this spring. But prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said the state would not be ready until November.
She also is prosecuting Dylann Roof, the white man charged with murder in the killings of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church. That trial is set to begin in July, and the state Supreme Court has issued an order protecting Wilson from trying other cases before that one.
Savage renewed his request for bond after Newman rejected an initial bond request last September. The judge said at the time that Slager posed a threat to the community.
Savage said Monday that Slager has health problems and faced another 11 months in jail before even going to trial.
Scott’s father, also named Walter, told the judge he often goes to the cemetery to visit his son’s grave, which is adorned with flowers.
“If we let him out, he’s going to go home to see his wife and children. All I can look at is a pot of flowers,” Scott said.
“I hope you allow me reasonable bond to work on my case,” Slager told the judge, who conceded “these are excruciating issues for the court to deal with.”
But Judge Newman said he was troubled that the trial is being delayed because of the order in the Roof case.
Joe Savitz, a criminal defense attorney in Columbia, said he wasn’t surprised Slager was granted the opportunity to get out of jail, given the major events — including the Charleston church shooting and the ensuing debate over the Confederate flag — that have happened in the months since his arrest.
“The Roof case is going to be tried fairly soon,” Savitz said. “Everybody is kind of focusing on that.”
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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
