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A court transcript was unsealed Tuesday, where Charleston’s top prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said the police shooting of Walter Scott could be murder or manslaughter, The Post and Courier reports.

The news outlet received the transcripts after a constitutionally-backed request that they to be released to the public.

Charleston’s top prosecutor said the police shooting of Walter Scott was a “close call” between murder and manslaughter, but that a case could be made for either crime. Both the prosecution and defense voiced support for this move.

During an October pretrial hearing, Wilson said it was a “close call” between the two possibilities.

I felt like voluntary manslaughter might be a better fit,” Wilson said. “But I also thought that there certainly could be a case made for malice.”

This spring, Michael Slager (the former police officer who fatally shot Scott in South Carolina) plead guilty to charges of violating the unarmed Scott’s civil rights. In April, 2015, Slager pulled Scott over for a broken taillight. Though Slager had claimed that Scott escalated the situation by running and that he shot him in self-defense, dash cam footage revealed that Slager had shot Scott in the back repeatedly as Scott ran away.

SOURCE: The Post and Courier

Ex-Cop, Who Killed Walter Scott, Pleads Guilty In Civil Rights Case

Judge Declares Mistrial In Michael Slager Trial

Black Foreman In Slager Trial Says Jurors Found Nothing ‘Malicious’ About The Ex-Cop’s Actions

 

Walter Scott Shooting: ‘Close Call’ Between Manslaughter And Murder  was originally published on newsone.com