News

There's Confusion Over Michael Slager's Release

by Seth Millstein

Michael Slager, the South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott in 2015, has been released from jail, according to reports. Slager had been denied bail in September, but Circuit Judge Clifton Newman reversed that decision on Monday, and Slager posted his $500,000 bond in early evening. He will be confined to house arrest.

UPDATE: After several hours of confusion over whether or not Slager had or hadn't been released from custody, the sheriff's office confirmed Slager has been released from jail. According to the Associated Press, after initial reports stated he had been released on bail, deputies in Charleston said that Slager had not yet been released from custody, despite jail records indicating the opposite. The confirmation that he had, in fact, been released came on Monday evening.

It had originally been reported that Slager was released on bail. However, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office then said on Twitter that this is incorrect, and that Slager was still in custody. The sheriff's website also said that Slager was booked. The AP reports, however, the website had indicated earlier in the day that Slager was released. A spokesman for the Sheriff's office tells local newspaper The Post and Courier that the jail website was incorrect in saying he had been released.

Although Slager was originally denied bail, Judge Newman changed his mind Monday, citing a delay in Slager's trial and the time Slager has already served in pre-trial booking. When the state Supreme Court ordered prosecutors to put all other cases on hold in order to make way for the trial of Dylann Roof, Slager's trial was delayed until October 2016, almost a year and a half after his original indictment. Newman suggested that the time Slager has already served in jail awaiting trial amounts to a degree of punishment.