They are claiming that Derek Chauvin wanted to kill George Floyd on purpose due to hatred for the color of his skin, and he did so by following standard police operating procedures.
This has always been a completely insane allegation. But a lot hinges on this trial. So they’re setting it up to be as stupid as possible.
AP:
A judge said Friday he wonât delay or move the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floydâs death over concerns that a $27 million settlement for Floydâs family could taint the jury pool, but heâll allow limited evidence from a 2019 arrest.
Jury selection in the trial of Derek Chauvin will stretch into a third week after attorneys seated just one additional juror Friday. The 13th juror picked is a woman who said sheâd seen only clips of the video of Floydâs arrest and needs to learn more about what happened beforehand.
Hennepin County Judge Pete Cahill said court would resume Monday to pick two more jurors — for a total of 15, one more than expected. Asked about the apparent discrepancy, a court spokesman cited a November order from Cahill that had said up to 16 jurors — 12 to deliberate and four alternates — would be seated.
Seven jurors had been picked last week when the Minneapolis City Council announced it had unanimously approved the massive payout to settle a civil rights lawsuit over Floydâs death. Chauvinâs attorney, Eric Nelson, subsequently sought to halt or move the trial, saying the settlement timing was deeply disturbing and jeopardized Chauvinâs chance for a fair trial. Chauvin is charged with murder and manslaughter.
But Cahill, who called the timing âunfortunate,â said he believed a delay would do nothing to stem the problem of pretrial publicity, and that thereâs no place in Minnesota untouched by that publicity.
The judge handed the defense a victory by ruling that the jury can hear evidence from Floydâs 2019 arrest, but only information possibly pertaining to the cause of his death in 2020. He acknowledged several similarities between the two encounters, including that Floyd swallowed drugs after police confronted him.
The judge previously said the earlier arrest could not be admitted, but he reconsidered after drugs were found in January in a second search of the police SUV that the four officers attempted to put Floyd in last year. The defense argues that Floydâs drug use contributed to his death.
Cahill said heâd allow medical evidence of Floydâs physical reactions, such as his dangerously high blood pressure when he was examined by a paramedic in 2019, and a short clip of an officerâs body camera video. He said Floydâs âemotional behavior,â such as calling out to his mother, wonât be admitted.
But Cahill said he doesnât plan to allow the testimony of a forensic psychiatrist for the prosecution. Floyd said he had claustrophobia and resisted getting into the squad car before the fatal encounter last year, and the state wanted Dr. Sarah Vinson to testify that his actions were consistent with a normal person experiencing severe stress, as opposed to faking or resisting arrest.
The judge said he would reconsider allowing her as a rebuttal witness if the defense somehow opens the door, but allowing her to testify could usher in all of the evidence from Floydâs 2019 arrest.
âClearly there is a cause of death issue here, and it is highly contested,â Cahill said, noting that both arrests involved Floydâs cardiac problems and ingesting drugs.
If the guy had fentanyl in his system, then the cause of death shouldn’t be in question.
It looks like he thought he was going to get caught with drugs, so he swallowed them all, and then died.
But the basic concept of charging Chauvin for murder – it’s just so crazy. The knee-on-neck move might not be good optics, but it is standard operating procedure. If it’s a murderous SOP, then whoever made it SOP should be charged with the murder.
But he died of a drug overdose. We know that. He also tested positive for coronavirus, and anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus and then dies of any cause is listed by the CDC has having died of coronavirus. Officially, George Floyd is in those statistics, meaning he couldn’t have been murdered (or for that matter died of a drug overdose). It is officially the policy of the US government that if you test positive for coronavirus and then die from anything, coronavirus was the cause of death.
What is the motive?
“Oh, there’s a black guy – I hate his skin, so I’m gonna kill him!”?
This whole society has just gotten so whacky, that it’s impossible to imagine it holding together much longer.
