Walter Scott Trial Update: Poverty-Stricken Michael Slager Asks For Public Funding For Legal Defense Fees

Former South Carolina Police Officer Michael Slager, whose trial in state court over killing unarmed black motorist Walter Scott in 2015 ended in a hung jury in December, said he needed public funding for his second trial after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the first one, The Charleston Post and Courier reported Tuesday.

Slager, who is white, is scheduled to face state murder charges in August over shooting Scott in the back eight times while the 50-year-old was running away in April 2015. If convicted, Slager faces a sentence of 30 years to life without parole.

Slager will appear before a federal civil rights trial on May 15 over violating Scott’s rights, lying to investigators and discharging a firearm amid a violent crime. Slager maintained throughout his trial that he was forced to kill Scott in self-defense after the two got into a physical altercation in which Scott allegedly got a hold of Slager's Taser and attacked him with it.

Charleston, South Carolina, Public Defender Ashley Pennington filed Slager’s request for public funding for the second state trial Friday, citing how he currently lives below the federal poverty line while having to support his family of five. Pennington’s request revealed that Slager had virtually no cash or assets to his name except for his car, a 2001 Mercury Sable. Pennington added that said Slager was currently getting by from cash donations from family members.

"Since his arrest, he has been unable to meet his family's monthly expenses without voluntary donations from his father and uncle," said Pennington's request. "His savings appear to be inadequate to retain the services of a qualified attorney for a trial ... of this complexity."

Private attorneys who are not members of the public defender’s office can be appointed to "uncertain"cases and paid with taxpayer dollars if it is deemed circumstantially appropriate by a judge, according to local reports Monday. Though Slager was financially qualified to receive a court-appointed lawyer in his first state trial, Circuit Judge Clifton Newman of South Carolina barred any public funding for expert witnesses and Slayer’s private attorney Andy Savage, who offered to represent the former lawman for free.

A federal judge said the government would foot the bill for Savage to represent Slager in his upcoming civil rights trial, but because Newman has yet to respond to Pennington’s request, it remains unclear whether Savage will remain Slager's lawyer in the state trial. Though Slager was financially qualified to receive a court-appointed lawyer in his first state trial, Newman barred public funding for expert witnesses and Savage’s services, who offered to represent the former lawman for free.

Scott was one of 968 Americans killed by police officers across the country in 2015, the Washington Post reported. Although black men represented just 6 percent of the U.S. population, they made up 40 percent of citizens who were killed while unarmed.