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 None of the circumstances that allow lethal punishment apply in
the April 4 shooting of 50-year-old Walter Scott by North Charleston
patrolman Michael Slager, said Scarlett Wilson, Charleston County's
chief prosecutor.
"Based on the facts revealed thus far, it does not appear South
Carolina's death penalty provision applies in this case because
there are no statutory 'aggravating circumstances' present," Wilson
said in a statement.
Such factors include murders committed during a kidnapping, robbery,
drug trafficking, or with poison or physical torture.
In a police dashboard camera video published by the local Post and
Courier newspaper on Monday, Slager can be heard laughing after the
shooting and telling a fellow officer his adrenaline was "pumping".
 Scott's death reignited a public outcry over police treatment of
minorities that flared last year after the killings of unarmed black
men in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, and elsewhere.
North Charleston fired Slager last week after he was charged with
murder. A cellphone video showed him shooting at Scott's back eight
times as he ran away.
Slager, who was being held in Charleston County jail, could face 30
years to life in prison if convicted.
The Post and Courier also reported that Pierre Fulton, who was
riding in Scott's car during the stop, said he didn't know why Scott
fled, but defended his friend.
"I'll never know why he ran, but I know he didn't deserve to die,"
he said in a statement released by his attorney, Mark Peper, to the
newspaper.
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Slager is also accused of using excessive force during an August
2014 traffic stop in North Charleston in a lawsuit filed April 10 by
Julius Wilson. Wilson, who is also black, was stopped for driving
with a broken taillight, the same offense Scott was pulled over for
the day he died.
Wilson says Slager and two other officers pulled him from his
vehicle, restrained him face-down on the pavement and Slager fired a
stun gun into his back.
A spokesman for the North Charleston police department declined to
comment.
Separately in Baltimore, a man was in critical condition on Monday
after being arrested by several police officers, officials said.
Footage from that incident published by a local broadcaster showed
the man was black.
(Reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C.; Additional
reporting and writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and David Adams
in Miami.; Editing by Doina Chiacu and John Stonestreet)
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