CHARLESTON, S.C. — Against a backdrop of violence by and toward police across the nation, opening statements will get underway Thursday in the murder trial of a white former police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist.

A panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror will decide the case against Michael Slager, who faces 30 years to life if convicted of murder in the April 2015 shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott. Scott fled a traffic stop in North Charleston and his shooting was captured by a bystander on dramatic cellphone video that stunned the nation.

As testimony begins in the Slager trial, a similar trial is underway in Ohio in which a white campus police officer is charged in the death of a black man. And on Wednesday, authorities apprehended a suspect in the deaths of two Iowa officers shot while sitting in their patrol cars.(nydailynews.com)…[+]