Michael Slager’s defense team wants his murder trial moved out of the Charleston area.
Andy Savage, the lead attorney for the former North Charleston police officer, filed a motion Tuesday asking to change the venue of Slager’s upcoming state trial.
The former officer is accused of fatally shooting Walter Scott, 50, after the man ran from a traffic stop on April 4, 2015, off Remount Road. Slager fired a Taser at him, and a fight ensued.
Video of the shooting taken by a bystander, Feidin Santana, surfaced three days later showing the two men struggling on the ground.
Slager was jailed on a state murder charge and later was indicted on three federal counts, including a civil rights violation and lying to authorities about the threat Scott posed with the Taser. The federal trial isn’t scheduled to begin until 2017.
In his filing, Savage argues that Santana’s video has created a pervasive bias against his client in the Charleston area.
An affidavit included with the filing said that a telephone survey of 608 Charleston County adults was conducted Sept. 16-18.
Of the people reached in the survey, 91 percent had knowledge about the Slager case and 85 percent had seen the video, the affidavit said.
“The bystander video has been the main source of the false and incomplete narrative that permeates this community. ... This false narrative was reinforced by the ($6.5 million) civil settlement (in October 2015) which is seen as confirming Slager’s guilt,” Savage said.
The motion does not say where Savage or Slager would like the trial to be moved.
Account differ about whether Slager or Scott had the upper hand during the struggle.
Slager’s attorneys have said he still saw Scott as a threat when he opened fire and that Santana’s video showed Scott on top of Slager, beating the officer.
Savage pointed to Slager’s blood found on his uniform as evidence of a violent struggle. Slager also had minor cuts on his left hand and legs.
The Taser had little effect on Scott because Scott had been drinking and taking cocaine at some point before the confrontation, Savage said.
According to the officer’s account, Scott grabbed the Taser with both of his hands and took it from the officer.
That’s why Scott’s DNA was on the device, the defense said.
Slager fired to stop the threat that Scott posed once he grabbed the Taser, the defense argued.
Citing Santana’s witness statements, the prosecution contends that Slager had the upper hand in the fight and that Scott never got the Taser.
Scott’s DNA was on the Taser because Slager had jabbed the device into the suspect to stun him, prosecutors said.
When Scott managed to writhe away and start running again, Slager acted as an “executioner” by shooting Scott in the back, 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson has said.
The video shows Scott falling to the ground after shots were fired. Slager handcuffed the lifeless body, then walked back to where he had fired and picked up his Taser.
He dropped it near Scott’s body but picked it up 19 seconds later and put it back into a holster.
Slager tried to plant evidence by moving the Taser closer to Scott’s body before picking it up again, the prosecution has said.
The defense has offered no clear explanation about why Slager moved the Taser.
In the change of venue filing, Savage argues that the environment for the trial, scheduled for Oct. 31, will likely be one of a “media circus,” and that jurors, witnesses and other parties involved in the case would have to “run the gauntlet” while entering and exiting the courthouses.
“The media has ‘knitted’ Slager and (Dylann) Roof together such that to the (uninformed), lines blur between the self-declared racist deeds of Roof and the line-of-duty actions of Slager,” the attorney said.
In a separate motion, Wilson requested that a specific date and time be set for the defense to turn over evidence to prosecutors or they “will likely be forced to move for mid-trial delay in order to adequately prepare.”
The solicitor did not respond when asked about the defense’s change-of-venue motion.
A hearing on the filings is scheduled for Friday.
Reach Gregory Yee at 843-937-5908. Follow him on Twitter @GregoryYYee.
