MINNEAPOLIS – The jury will return to the courtroom Monday morning to hear additional testimony from witnesses in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, charged with the murder of George Floyd.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson said Police Chief Medaria Arradondo would be called to the stand on Monday. Arradondo is expected to testify about police training and tactics, but he is not allowed to speak about Chauvin’s jury release.
Last week the jurors heard from 19 people, including several who witnessed Floyd’s death and burst into tears at the booth how they described their attempts to intervene on his behalf. Several Minneapolis police officers, including Chauvin’s supervisor at the time of Floyd’s death, testified what they saw at the scene following Floyd’s arrest, police training and use of force against Floyd.
The first week of the testimony ended on Friday with Veteran Officer Lt. Richard Zimmerman who said the court Kneeling by the neck of a suspect is potentially fatal and there is an “absolute” obligation to seek medical intervention as soon as necessary. Zimmerman described Chauvin’s use of force against Floyd as “completely unnecessary”.
“Holding him face down on the floor and kneeling on his neck for so long is just inappropriate,” he said.
Chauvin is charged with second degree murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter. Floyd, a black man, died in police custody on May 25, 2020 after the white chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
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Last update:
- Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled Monday that portions of the video from Chauvin’s body camera would be admitted as evidence and shown to the jury.
- A small group of demonstrators have more or less settled outside the government center of the Hennepin district and promise that they will stay there.
The judges watch parts of Chauvin’s body cam video
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled Monday that portions of the video from Chauvin’s body camera would be admitted as evidence and shown to the jury.
The part the defense wants to show the jury shows Chauvin after George Floyd is taken to the hospital. Prosecutors said it was not relevant to the use of force and should not be allowed. However, Cahill said the video was relevant because “it shows Mr. Chauvin’s behavior and actions immediately following the police battle and Floyd’s submission”.
Cahill said he would not decide until Wednesday whether to allow additional footage from the city camera across the street from the location of the fight. The defense wants this to be admitted as it spans roughly three hours of video and offers more comprehensive views of the fight than has previously been seen on videos introduced by the prosecution.
Also, Cahill said he would hold a hearing on Tuesday to discuss Morries Hall, a man who was in a car with Floyd when police first approached the vehicle. Hall said he was invoking his fifth right of amendment to avoid testifying as a witness at the trial.
Scenes from Minneapolis: Anger is brewing as protest hotspots are restored
Ten months after George Floyd’s death, his face looks at a still raw city: the intersection where he died under the knee of a policeman. The neighborhood burned and looted in the days that followed. The fortified courthouse where this ex-cop is charged with murder.
Although the streets are largely empty of mass protests, as last summer, calls for justice and reform can be found across the city.
“We’ll be here every day and night until we see some justice,” said 26-year-old protester Ashley Dorelus, one of the people who occupied the courthouse space. “This is a revolution, ladies and gentlemen. It is not a parade.”
The intersection where Floyd died has become a metaphor for the entire city: still grieving and with no consensus on exactly how to get ahead. City officials want the intersection to reopen when the process is over. Activists fear Floyd might just become a black man killed by the cops.
In the city center, the fortified government center and courthouse complex are surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers. For many demonstrators and reformists, the barbed wire, armored cars and soldiers in disguise with rifles are the ultimate expression of the yawning gap between the government and the people it is supposed to represent.
Lake Street bore the brunt of the destruction last summer when disgruntled residents first attacked the District 3 Police Station where Chauvin and his colleagues were, and then spread to liquor stores, pharmacies, the Target and Cub grocery stores.
Reconstruction is under way for some of them today. Target and Cub have reopened, as have most liquor stores. While the broken glass was swept away and the burned-out buildings demolished, scars remain from last summer’s riot and unrest.
Pharmacy owner Elias Usso, 42, said he remained concerned that Lake Street would never be rebuilt as it was, but he was willing to see his pharmacy destroyed if necessary to keep history going to change.
“That’s the price we pay for justice. I really see it that way. If there hadn’t been a cry for a black man killed on the street, who would have been ours?” he said. Continue reading.
– Trevor Hughes
Floyd opioid drug addiction highlighted in Derek Chauvin study
Like millions of Americans George Floyd lived with the agony of drug addiction.
He and his girlfriend Courteney Ross became addicted to opioids four years ago after they were both prescribed for chronic pain. When the prescriptions ran out, they turned to illegal drug use, she said. They tried to get clean and then failed. They tried again but couldn’t stop for long.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States, Floyd, the father of two young daughters, returned to work in a dark time: he lost his job as a nightclub security officer due to quarantine shutdowns and was hospitalized a few days later Admitted after an overdose, he found out he had the coronavirus. On the day of his death, he had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, toxicological reports later showed.
Floyd’s death helped create a global civil rights movement against racial injustice and police violence. The trial of his death Might similarly affect the way Americans view drug addiction At a time when black people, compared to white Americans, continue to be overwhelmingly denied medical treatment despite disproportionately high rates of fatal opioid overdoses.
Chauvin’s defense attorney Eric Nelson tried to convince the jury that drugs – not Chauvin’s knee clinging to Floyd’s neck as he handcuffed to the floor and shouted “I can’t breathe” – contributed to Floyd’s death.
Prosecutors, family members and medical experts have said Floyd’s history of addiction doesn’t explain how he died.
“George walked, talked, laughed and breathed well before Derek Chauvin put his knee to George’s neck,” said Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, lawyers for Floyd’s family, in a statement Thursday morning. Self-medication and opioid abuse are treated with dignity, respect and support , not with brutality. ” Continue reading.
– Cristina Silva
