I guess I was wrong when I wrote that: "I don't think there will be riots after the verdict...mostly because I cannot see the jury of ex-police officer Michael Slager not guilty in his prosecution for shooting and killing Walter Scott in South Carolina in April 2015". Not wrong in exactly what I said, since there has not been a verdict handed down, but wrong in that I certainly never would have believed there would be a hung jury (in this first trial) and because I was pretty certain he would be found guilty.
No verdict but no conviction either - the first trial has resulted in a hung jury. At first it sounded like a mistrial would be called because, on Friday, the jury indicated that a lone juror refused to convict but as of yesterday, the jury sent out another note indicating
that "...the majority of jurors were undecided and then requested explanation of legal terms critical to the case, such as malice and self-defense" (source). Wow, this is only conjecture bt it almost sounds as if the lone holdout from Friday may have pulled a Twelve Angry Men sort of a thing and turned some of the others against a guilty verdict - who knows!
As for myself, I am totally flabbergasted that he was not found guilty but do not fault the system that we have in place. His fate is in the hands of jurors and not we who do not have all the facts that the jurors have seen or heard . It seems at least one of them may truly have believed he or she had reasonable doubt after hearing those facts and then apparently swayed some of the others since.
It will be retried, that is almost a certainty. I will again be absolutely amazed if a not guilty verdict is the result. Then again, I base that only on what I have seen by way of the media - those stalwart supporters of lies, injustice and the communist way. Really though, I cannot see how he will not be convicted in light of the video that was made of the shooting but you never know until the verdict is read.
All the best,
Glenn B
No verdict but no conviction either - the first trial has resulted in a hung jury. At first it sounded like a mistrial would be called because, on Friday, the jury indicated that a lone juror refused to convict but as of yesterday, the jury sent out another note indicating
that "...the majority of jurors were undecided and then requested explanation of legal terms critical to the case, such as malice and self-defense" (source). Wow, this is only conjecture bt it almost sounds as if the lone holdout from Friday may have pulled a Twelve Angry Men sort of a thing and turned some of the others against a guilty verdict - who knows!
As for myself, I am totally flabbergasted that he was not found guilty but do not fault the system that we have in place. His fate is in the hands of jurors and not we who do not have all the facts that the jurors have seen or heard . It seems at least one of them may truly have believed he or she had reasonable doubt after hearing those facts and then apparently swayed some of the others since.
It will be retried, that is almost a certainty. I will again be absolutely amazed if a not guilty verdict is the result. Then again, I base that only on what I have seen by way of the media - those stalwart supporters of lies, injustice and the communist way. Really though, I cannot see how he will not be convicted in light of the video that was made of the shooting but you never know until the verdict is read.
All the best,
Glenn B
