SC officer wants rehearing in shooting conviction appeal

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Attorneys have asked an appellate court to reconsider its ruling upholding the conviction and 20-year sentence of a former South Carolina policeman in the shooting death of an unarmed motorist who was running away from a traffic stop.

Court filings show lawyers for Michael Slager lodged that request with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

An appellate panel ruled this month that a trial judge “committed no reversible error.” U.S. District Judge David Norton sentenced Slager in 2017 after the ex-officer pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation in the 2015 shooting death of Walter Scott.

Slager’s lawyers said the North Charleston officer got carried away after making the initial decision to shoot and defend himself.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.