The dominoes are pretty much falling into place as expected on the last day of statements in the trial of Derek Chauvin, which have now concluded and the jury is deliberating. Defense attorney Eric Nelson complained, as it was expected he would, about how the jury was not sequestered and that they were therefore exposed to watching the Daunte Wright case unfold on TV, an incident that took place less than ten miles from the courtroom. Nelson cited what he believed to be prosecutorial misconduct and his reasoning that a mistrial was appropriate — which the Judge denied, while admitting that Maxine Waters’ comments could be grounds, in the future, for a possible overturning of the case.
The prosecution made the comment, in closing statements, “This wasn’t policing, this was murder. And there’s no excuse.” And the defense did everything possible to switch away from the cop leaning on the dead man’s neck for over nine minutes and asked the jury to take into account that George Floyd was “large” and “likely drunk.” He argued that no single factor, be it hypertension, drug use, or Chauvin’s knee “played any more role resulting in Mr. Floyd’s death.”
It’s a first rate smoke and mirrors defense. Let’s see if the jury buys it, or if they believe the evidence of their own eyes and ears, and the dictates of common sense.
I’d bet my last doughnut that should the community not get the verdict they desire and violence breaks out that Rep. Waters will be charged with “incitement to riot”.
I would not be at all surprised to see the trial end in a mis-trial due to a hung jury, even with guilt as obvious as it is.
The dialogue about a hung jury was taking place long before Daunte Wright and long before Maxine Waters’ comments. It was thought weeks ago that the Minnesota jurors simply would not want to convict a cop. Now, with what has intervened since those comments were first made, who knows? It’s almost impossible to follow the psychology of this anymore.
Ursula, I agree with your summation …. there is none available … the jury is on their own in this … they have been given a LOT of evidence, they have a huge responsibility to do the right thing …
As Denis has explained very well, there are also some nefarious attempts to end this trial with a hung jury, simply because of the massive task to defend a murderer in spite of video evidence and the clock advance was over 9 minutes …
As shown by testimony, the cop, if he was going to do what he did and had learned all the protocols, GF would have been positioned differently and he could have been able to breath … the problem for the cops in this is, no one can survive for over 9 minutes without proper oxygen levels if they are struggling to get their breath … they are using precious oxygen to do the struggling and the knee on his neck and one on his back was what killed him, the other cops as a perfect storm were creating a surrounding that precluded GF’s death by Chauvin, holding his legs, making the crowd stay back, including a paramedic that knew what was happening would require the help she could provide, they all made Chauvin a murderer by complicity with something that had obvious visible and audio cues that GF was in a death grip and he was gone before he could be rescued … I noticed right away that Chauvin slipped his left hand down his left pocket to put more pressure on that left knee and it was horrible to see him rock forward on his knees …
While I want to see Chauvin locked away in prison I think it’s important to be accurate on facts. Like so many others I (initially) thought what you stated in your comment that he had his hand(s) in his pocket. However, that’s not the case. He was wearing gloves (as many cops do these days as a safety measure – just like other first responders) which being black in color blended in with his black uniform trousers. With his hand resting on his thigh and the color of the gloves he was wearing it’s hard to see that, and given the position of his hand in that photo it’s natural to assume his left hand in in his pocket.
I would note however that whether in his pocket or resting on his thigh it wouldn’t make much (if any) difference in the force Chauvin’s left knee was applying to Mr. Floyd’s neck. ANY force applied with the knee to the neck of someone in the prone position on pavement is too much! The use of such a technique is not only NOT taught or approved, it is brutal and you will never convince me Chauvin didn’t intend to be brutal in his treatment of Floyd. He knew damn well he could wind up killing Floyd. He might have even intended to do just that somewhere during that encounter. Proving that intent would be an almost impossible task in court however, which is why the prosecution went for second degree murder instead of first degree. In any case Chauvin knew damn well he might kill or at the very least do permanent damage to Floyd. AND DID NOT CARE!
I like to think of him winding up weeping in a jail cell, like a real life version of the Erick Endicott character in the movie version of In The Heat Of The Night after turning away (so others couldn’t see him start to cry) when Tibbs (played by Sidney Poitier) slaps him back and the sheriff (Rod Steiger) doesn’t do anything about it. What Endicott, racist to his very core says is “There was a time…When I could have had you shot.” If Chauvin gets decades in jail and winds up dying there I can imagine thoughts like that going through the ugliness that is his mind – laments that there was a time when he wouldn’t have even gotten a slap on the wrist from his department. Much less tried. Or convicted and sent to prison.
When a country sets up shop by genocide & land grabbing, then kidnaps 400,000 black folks, force breeds them to 4 million slaves, sets up the electoral college to support murderous racism, then fights tooth & nail to keep the rich white boys in power, makes religious hypocrisy the national religion, well….the road to hell is paved with gold, covered in blood, protected by the law. Any wonder? Not for people who value justice.
I think Nelson tried to provoke a mistrial in his closing. If you haven’t followed closely there was a hullubaloo when the prosecution was about to put on its rebuttal case. Specifically over the issue of carbon monoxide in Floyd’s blood. A specific reading wasn’t brought up during the prosecution’s case, mainly because although the hospital ran that particular test they never forwarded the result to the pathologist! Given the oxygen saturation in Floyd’s blood and lack of ANY indication in his tissues of signs of carbon monoxide poisoning the pathologist didn’t think anything of it. Had he seen any signs in the tissue he’d have asked for the test. Back in Feb. the defense expert sent a memo with his initial report that among other things noted no information on carbon monoxide saturation, and suggesting it might be worth checking out. Everyone either ignored or forgot about it until as part of the “throw every bit of monkey shit at the wall and hope a piece of it sticks long enough to cover just one juror in reasonable doubt” strategy the defense expert dropped it in there. The prosecution did some cleanup on cross examination and that probably would have been that, except the pathologist heard from the hospital that they DID run a test on that specific thing and the result was it was a minimal amount – something that would blow the defense expert’s testimony suggesting sloppiness (or worse) by the prosecution out of the water.
The prosecution immediately gave the results to the defense after they got them and indicated they’d have their own expert (who would be called for rebuttal and the jury had already been mightily impressed by him!) and the defense attorney FREAKED! He made a huge deal before the jury was brought in about how it would be prejudicial and the judge bought it although I thought the prosecution (and the judge made it clear there was NO bad faith on their part or the pathologist but had some words for the hospital lab for not forwarding everything they had to the medical examiner’s office) and then came the biggie. The judge made it clear that only a very, very limited discussion could be had regarding any tests of Floyd’s blood gas – to the oxygen saturation only and the judge went on to make clear that even referencing that other blood gas tests had been run would result in an immediate mistrial!
The was some fainting couch commentary from the talking heads over Dr. Tobin “almost going there” but Tobin had been warned and chose his words carefully and walked though that minefield ok.
So why did I go through all that? Because in his closing Nelson talked about carbon monoxide being a possible cause of death and in addition to trying to counter Dr. Tobin’s having nailed that door shut in the rebuttal case he clearly stated that NO test had been run to determine carbon monoxide levels. Nelson knew damned well he was telling a flat-out fucking lie and he HAD to have remembered all the fuss he made over excluding that very testimony! My guess is that it was a strategic ploy by Nelson to provoke the prosecution into an objection along the lines of “Objection your honor! Mr. Nelson won a motion precluding us from presenting that test result during rebuttal” Sort of maybe get them to blurt out an objection that would result in the mistrial.
If I’m right about that it means Nelson thinks his case is awfully weak, and by weak I don’t just mean regarding the trial verdict but the inevitable appeals we know would happen if Chauvin is convicted.
However, the prosecution didn’t take the bait. But I’ll be they have a thing or two to say to the judge in chambers, and if & when the time for appeals come and Nelson (or whomever) is arguing prosecutorial misconduct Nelson’s action today might come back to bite him in the ass. In fact, I can see them indicating to Nelson that while they understand what will be included in his appeal he should be careful about how hard he wants to push because they can push back even harder.
Crystal Ball saying dunno. But I hope justice will out
I don’t think anybody can call this. It would be good if justice could win out and Chauvin gets what’s coming to him. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear. That said, I read any number of articles when this case started up, predicting a hung jury.
Speaking from me and my experiences who is country 1 in a million cases then I went down like this but most of those didn’t even go to trial I mean it’s a president that we’re even getting in the trial with these cases and it will really really be a president if he was convicted. I pray that Justice is served and I pray that this country changes it’s going to take everybody pulling together as human beings and stop seeing the color of your skin Ferguson country to be what it is supposed to be. We’re supposed to be leading the world yeah you got other countries that I don’t see color like that I’m really praying for this country and my people and when I say my people I mean all people black white Puerto Rican it doesn’t matter just like Prince said it doesn’t matter.
Chauvin just found guilty on ALL charges!!