Ex-cop Slager’s 20-year prison sentence upheld in killing of fleeing Black man in SC

A federal judge has upheld the 20-year prison sentence of Michael Slager, a former North Charleston police officer, who in 2015 fatally shot an unarmed Black man who was running away from him.

The decisive factor in upholding Slager’s sentence was “the shooting of a fleeing and unarmed man five times in the back when he posed no possible threat to the safety of (Slager),” Judge Richard Gergel wrote in a 17-page decision issued late Monday afternoon.

Gergel’s decision, published on federal court dockets, was the latest in a years-long series of high-profile court actions involving the killing of Walter Scott, who was Black, and Slager, who is white.

On April 4, 2015, Slager had pulled over Scott for a minor traffic violation in North Charleston, when Scott jumped out of his car and ran away into a vacant lot.

There, Slager shot Scott several times. The shooting was caught on a bystander’s cell phone video, which went viral around the world within days.

The case gained even more attention because Slager initially told investigators that Scott had attacked him and that he killed the 50-year-old man in self-defense.

But the video showed a version of events that sharply conflicted with Slager’s accounting of what happened. State officials charged Slager with murder.

Slager’s bid to overturn his sentence and have a new hearing was based on his claim that his trial attorney, Charleston lawyer Andy Savage, had provided incompetent representation.

Gergel’s decision came six days after a two-day hearing ended last week in Charleston. Slager’s new attorney, Christopher Geel, presented evidence asserting that Savage had done an inadequate job representing Slager.

But Judge Gergel wrote that Slager’s attorney failed to show evidence that Savage’s “performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and failed to show that any such alleged deficient performance resulted in prejudice to him.”

In testimony last week, Savage took the stand and asserted he had committed what he considered to be a blunder in representing Slager.

“I was not only surprised, I was shocked because I really had misread the case,” Savage testified. “I had misinterpreted signals that I received... I wanted Michael (Slager) to get the best possible outcome, and he didn’t.”

But federal prosecutors Brook Andrews and Rose Gibson framed Savage’s take on the case this way: Savage did his best and did what any good lawyer could have done by presenting a good case that went awry because of events out of his control.

Original sentencing

A state trial in 2016 resulted in a hung jury on the murder charge. Slager then agreed to a plea bargain with federal law enforcement officials where he would plead guilty to a civil rights violation of excessive force resulting in Scott’s death.

As part of the deal, Slager agreed to let U.S. District Judge David Norton set the sentence after a sentencing hearing. All state charges would be dropped.

After a four-day hearing in December 2017 before Norton, Norton assessed the case as one involving Scott’s murder and gave Slager 20 years — a sentence that stunned the ex-officer’s legal team but one that was widely praised by many community groups and civil rights advocates.

It is rare for police to get stiff prison sentences for incidents involving death to civilians. Norton could have given Slager life in prison. Savage and the legal team were hoping for a sentence of five to 10 years.

Although Gergel issued no ruling from the bench last week, he indicated he was not impressed by the argument that Savage had failed to represent his client.

“Calling Mr. (Andy) Savage ineffective is ridiculous,” Gergel told Geel at the end of a two-day hearing, referring to Slager’s depiction of his lawyer.

Gergel noted that Savage is widely considered to be one of the state’s finest lawyers.

Cross-examination

Government lawyers Brook Andrews and Rose Gibson didn’t present witnesses but made their points through cross-examination of Savage and other Slager witnesses.

Under questioning by Andrews and Gibson, Savage acknowledged that he had put together a good team of lawyers and experts, and had seen and heard various signals that made him think Judge Norton would go easy on Slager. That included an off-hand comment by Norton that the shooting of Scott was “clearly” not murder. Another signal was a state jury that had decided Slager was innocent of murder but had gotten hung up on manslaughter charges, the prosecutors said.

The case was a painful one for Savage, who testified that not only did he become personally close to Slager during his representation, but he was also very close to Judge Norton.

Savage, who graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in the same year as Norton in 1975, also said he had known Norton more than 40 years.

“He is the godfather of my son, and I’m the godfather of his daughter,” Savage testified.

Judge Norton never hinted to him that he might come down hard on Slager, Savage testified. “He never said to me, ‘Andy, boy, you’ve got a tough case coming here boy, you better be careful.’”

But Savage testified on the witness stand last week that the judge’s statement was just “one of the factors” that was crucial in how he and his legal team looked at the case.

This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Ex-cop Slager’s 20-year prison sentence upheld in killing of fleeing Black man in SC."