A jury of 11 whites and one black was seated Wednesday to hear the case against Michael Slager, the former North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Walter Scott.
The six white men, five white women and one black man will hear opening statements Thursday morning in the case, which drew national attention in 2015 after video emerged showing Slager shooting Scott as he ran away. Scott was black; Slager is white.
The graphic video sparked outrage and reignited a national conversation about race and policing.
Slager killed Scott after pulling him over for a broken brake light on April 4, 2015.
The cell phone video, recorded by a bystander, shows Scott running away, his back turned. The officer raises his gun and fires eight times. Scott falls to the ground. Motionless and face down in the grass, the officer handcuffs him as someone yells, “Put your hands behind your back!”
A grand jury indicted Slager on a murder charge in June 2015.
The former officer has pleaded not guilty. If he’s convicted, he could face 30 years to life in prison.
He was released from jail on bond in January and placed on house arrest.
The alternate jurors are two white men, two white women and two African-American women.
When a CNN reporter asked about the racial makeup of the jury Wednesday, Scott family lawyer Justin Bamberg said, “White people believe in justice, too.”
The trial is being held in Charleston, where nine black people were shot and killed June 17, 2015, during Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. A white man, Dylan Roof, was charged in their killings and faces state and federal trials. The federal case is set to begin next week.
