U.S. | Mon Dec 5, 2016 | 2:16pm EST

Jury seeks guidance in ex-South Carolina police officer's murder trial

By Harriet McLeod | CHARLESTON, S.C.

Twelve jurors weighing whether a white former South Carolina police officer is guilty of murder for a black motorist's shooting death last year told a judge on Monday they were grappling with legal terms and remained undecided on a verdict.

The jury in the state trial for ex-North Charleston patrolman Michael Slager no longer said it was deadlocked, however, a shift from its stance during deliberations on Friday.

"The note says that the majority of jurors are still undecided. It doesn’t say they are deadlocked," Judge Clifton Newman told lawyers in a Charleston courtroom.

"And that’s what deliberations are all about, getting an undecided jury to decide," he added.

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