Murderous Pig who killed Walter Scott trial begins in South Carolina...

State solicitor Scarlett Wilson said in a statement she would retry the case “whenever the court calls”.

Slager has also been indicted on federal civil rights charges that carry a maximum sentence of life, but the failure to reach a decision in this state murder trial will probably be seen as a stinging blow to the Black Lives Matter movement, which has campaigned doggedly for police reform and equal justice.

The result follows similar outcomes in other high profile trials of police officers accused of unlawfully killing unarmed African Americans across the country. Last month the trial of former Cincinnati campus police officer Ray Tensing ended in mistrial despite video evidence that prosecutors argued showed he had murdered Samuel DuBose. At the end of 2015 the first of six Baltimore police officers indicted in the death in custody of Freddie Gray also ended in a mistrial, paving the way for charges being dropped in the other cases.

During an emotional address on Monday, Wilson said the 12 men and women on the jury had been “exemplary” in their service.

“Y’all have been all-stars. And while I don’t mean to downplay or understate my disappointment that together we weren’t able to reach a resolution, no one can be critical of you,” Wilson said.

“You have sacrificed more than any of your peers in this community have for jury service and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

As Wilson addressed the jury, she paid tribute to Scott’s parents, Walter Sr and Judy Scott, whom she described as “leading this community to peace”.

Holding back tears, Wilson continued: “The whole world has remarked on Charleston and this community and how we’ve reacted over the past year and a half. The dignity and grace that this community saw started right here with the Scott family, and they have not gotten the credit they deserved.”

Foreman in Michael Slager trial says jurors found nothing 'malicious' in Walter Scott killing

The jury foreman in Michael Slager's murder trial told NBC on Thursday that the panel had focused on a manslaughter charge after deciding the North Charleston policeman had done nothing "malicious" in Walter Scott's shooting death.

But when a mistrial was declared Monday, five of the 12 jurors remained undecided on any conviction while a holdout for an acquittal refused to rethink his decision, the foreman, Dorsey Montgomery, told the "Today" show.

Montgomery said he had first thought Scott's killing was murder after seeing the video of Slager firing eight times as Scott ran away. But after looking at other evidence, poring over the law and factoring in the judge's instructions, he said the jury resorted to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

"We had to come to find out that he didn’t do anything malicious," Montgomery said of Slager during the "Today" interview Thursday morning. "He had a brief disturbance in reason at that moment."

Slager, 35, was arrested on a murder charge as the eyewitness footage emerged publicly three days after the April 4, 2015, shooting. He said Scott, 50, had grabbed his Taser and turned it against him during a fight, prompting his gunfire in self-defense. The footage captured the Taser hitting the ground as Scott separated himself from the confrontation, but Slager testified during the trial that he didn't know that at the time.

The 12 jurors listened to 55 witnesses for the prosecution and the defense over the month-long trial.

Montgomery was the only black juror. The others were white. Montgomery was the only juror who had stood when a pool of prospective jurors were asked during the selection process if they had never heard about the case.

Though race was never alleged to have played a role in Scott's killing, the shooting had come during a national conversation about police uses of force against black people. Slager is white, and Scott was black.

"Due to the society that we live in, race will always be a factor," Montgomery told "Today." "I do believe some jurors may have had that in their mind, but the majority of them didn’t have anything in reference to race that may have played a factor in the decision."

The jurors started deliberations Wednesday night. By Friday, they announced a deadlock, pointing in notes to the judge to the holdout for a not guilty verdict. But Montgomery said he had been hopeful that further talks could have swayed that juror, so he told Circuit Judge Clifton Newman that the jury wanted to deliberate a little more "to see if we could sway that particular juror and get those who were undecided to make a decision."

They returned Monday to attempt that, but it didn't work.

"He just had his own convictions," Montgomery told "Today," "and I’ll leave that right there.

"I believe that justice shall come forth," he added. "Whatever the outcome will be ... that is what the outcome shall be."

Hicks column: Charleston keeps the peace, once again