Slager case: Judge gives defense more time to investigate new evidence found

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A judge has ordered investigators to send swabs used to collect evidence in the Michael Slager case to a forensics investigator and is also giving that investigator extra time to analyze them.

Judge Clifton Newman issued the orders last week in response to motions filed by Slager's attorneys.

The defense team wanted swabs used to collect DNA evidence from a taser to be sent to an independent investigator. According to one of the motions, a SLED analysis has identified that DNA of both Slager and Walter Scott were presumptively present.

Scott was the motorist fatally shot by Slager on April 4.

The motion states that the forensic investigator noted "trace strands of fibers that may constitute relevant and material evidence in this matter," adding that when the fibers were discovered, investigators immediately stopped investigating until SLED could be notified and SLED personnel could arrive to monitor the investigator's further examination.

Slager's attorneys asked for 30 to 45 more days to investigate.

According to the documents, both Newman and the case's prosecutor, Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, consented to the requests.

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