Jury foreman Dorsey Montgomery II, the only African-American juror in the Michael Slager trial, says that race was not a factor in 12 jurors failing to convict the cop who killed Walter Scott.
Montgomery appeared, alongside his lawyer, on the TODAY show to clarify exactly what happened during deliberations of the Slager trial that led to a mistrial.
One, he debunked media reports saying the blame went to one juror who was deadlocked. Instead, he says that there were actually five more who couldn’t make up their minds, which is why they sent a letter to the judge last Friday asking if they could have more time to deliberate and re-examine the law and that they need the court to define the difference between passion and fear. The judge told them that was up to them to decide. They then requested additional testimony, but they still could not reach a verdict. Montgomery goes on to insist that had they been giving a little more time, they could’ve swayed the deadlocked juror into a guilty verdict.
Montgomery says that he himself was prepared to convict Slager of murder at the start of the trial, but that he changed his mind to the lesser manslaughter charge after recieving more evidence and understanding of the law.
When pressed about the explanation the rogue juror gave about not being able to convict Slager “in good conscience,” Montgomery offered, “let’s just say he had his own convictions.”
Montgomery also feels that race was not a factor in the jurors’ decision.
He feels that while some of the jurors might have had race “in the back of their mind,” the majority of the jurors did not. Reminder, the jury was made up of 11 White jurors and Montgomery. Now that he’s spoke his piece, let see if we can hear from some of the killer cop protectors in the jury.
Watch the entire interview for yourself below.
Photo: WENN.com
