PUBLISHER'S NOTE: As reporter Alex Johnson notes: "A video made by a
bystander showing Slager
shooting Scott in the back in April 2015 stunned the nation and led to
murder charges for the former North Charleston police officer, who could
be sentenced to 30 years to life in prison if he's convicted."..."This
Blog is digging into the momentous on-going trial from time to time,
when issues relating to the forensic evidence emerge from the fray.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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"The prosecution was met with strong resistance Tuesday as they tried to
prove the qualifications of their final expert witness in the trial of
former North Charleston officer Michael Slager. Bill Williams, owner of a forensic consulting business, was called to
testify as an expert in the field of forensic scene analysis and
recreation. In listing his qualifications, Williams cited years of
professional experience and told the court that he had spent more than
500 hours compiling a timeline of the events leading up to the shooting
of Walter Scott. By examining recordings from the dash camera of Slager’s patrol car,
his police radio, and Feidin Santana’s eyewitness video of the shooting,
Williams presented his point-by-point approximation of the order of
events, as well the proximity of the two men when Slager opened fire.
Compiling the various pieces of footage with police dispatch recordings
from multiple officers, Williams played a video for state Circuit Court
Judge Clifton Newman that included an animated scene of Scott running
from Slager into an empty lot before their struggle. The jury was not
present during Williams’ testimony Tuesday, as Judge Newman had still
not decided if he could serve as an expert witness. For hours, attorneys for Slager challenged the potential witness’
ability to testify as an expert, citing his lack of formal education or
training in the field of forensics and video analysis. Williams stood by
his years of experience and self-training, even asserting that his
measurements of the scene were more accurate than those taken by SLED
investigators. Defense attorney Donald McCune grilled Williams regarding a previous
trial in which he had testified as an expert witness. In 2010, the South
Carolina Supreme Court overturned the ruling in a case against the Ford
Motor Company. During that trial, Williams offered testimony as an
expert on automobile cruise-control systems in regard to the Ford
Explorer. In finding that the trial court made a mistake by allowing Williams’
testimony, the state Supreme Court stated, “In our view, there is no
evidence to support the trial court’s qualification of Williams as an
expert in cruise control systems. Williams had no knowledge, skill,
experience, training, or education specifically related to cruise
control systems. Rather, it appears he merely studied the Explorer’s
system just before trial, which he indicated in his testimony to the
jury: “This is how I taught myself the [Explorer’s] cruise control, or
speed control system.”.........Lead prosecutor Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson continued
fighting to have Williams included as her final witness, stating that he
“has skills that the common man doesn’t have” and mentioning the
hundreds of crime and accident scenes that Williams has examined. Citing
the state Supreme Court’s ruling regarding Williams’ previous testimony
in the Ford case, Judge Newman questioned the solicitor’s confidence in
Williams, but ultimately found him fit to testify as an expert witness. Williams is expected to take the stand in full view of the jury Wednesday morning as the prosecution closes their case."
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/TheBattery/archives/2016/11/15/prosecution-struggles-to-prove-legitimacy-of-expert-witness-in-michael-slager-trial