Prosecutors’ evidence against former North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael Slager in Walter Scott's shooting death was “persuasive,” Judge Clifton Newman wrote in denying Slager's bid to be freed while awaiting trial on a murder charge, reports the Charleston Post and Courier. “After careful consideration of all of the evidence presented and the nature and circumstances of the offense,” Newman said, “[Slager’s release] would constitute an unreasonable danger to the community.”
A video showed Slager shooting Scott in the back as the 50-year-old man ran away April 4. The officer was fired and arrested after the footage surfaced three days later, and he has been jailed since then. “I think it's a good day in South Carolina,” said James Johnson, who leads National Action Network chapters in South Carolina. “Slager talks about wanting to see his son, but Mrs. Scott can't see her son anymore.” The judge's order came amid activists' calls for protests if Slager were released, though experts said public sentiment cannot be considered in making such a ruling. Andy Savage, an attorney for Slager, said a jury would find Slager “free of any criminal intent.”