CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Solicitor Scarlett Wilson is urging jurors in the Michael Slager murder trial to ignore what she calls defense attempts to divert attention from the cellphone video that shows the officer shooting Walter Scott five times in the back.
“You’ve seen lots of smoke and you have seen lots of mirrors” she said after the defense made its closing arguments. Slager’s lawyer said Scott attacked the officer and got control of his stun gun, making him fear for his life.
But Wilson showed jurors pictures of Slager with his radio and earpiece still in place after the shooting.
She said “that is not the sign of a violent, throw-down, life-threatening fight.”
She accused Slager of inventing a story about the fight, and said his fellow officers “bought everything he said that day, hook, line and sinker.”
Wilson said “our whole criminal justice system rides on the back of law enforcement,” and because of that, “they have to be held responsible when they mess up.”
