“I’ve answered every question to the best of my recollection,” he testified in a closely-watched congressional hearing.
Now, in an unrelated matter, a former North Charleston, S.C., police officer is hoping that Sessions’ memory lapses will help him convince a judge to show some leniency as he awaits sentencing for fatally shooting an unarmed black man.
Federal prosecutors say Michael Slager lied repeatedly about why he fired eight rounds at Walter Scott’s back in April 2015, and that he should be punished with an enhanced sentence for obstruction of justice.
Slager’s defense attorneys disagree, and to bolster their argument, they’re citing Sessions’ appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 14.
In a federal court filing last week, Slager’s attorneys said the former officer had not, in fact, lied when he gave an ever-shifting account of the shooting during two years of investigations and court proceedings, at times contradicted by cellphone footage of the incident. Rather, they said, his memory had faltered under pressure.
