Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin pinned alleged fraudster George Floyd to the ground with his knee for over nine minutes, and then Mr. Floyd died. On Monday, Chauvin will be in court for the first day of his trial for both murder and manslaughter charges over Floyd’s death. Minneapolis, at least, is likely to be the site of mass riots should Chauvin be acquitted of the most serious charge, and quite possibly, even if he isn’t.
Two autopsies reached divergent conclusions about Floyd’s cause of death and which one the jury believes may dictate their verdict. A trial for the other police officers who held Mr. Floyd, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao, is scheduled for August.
Voir Dire
Jury selection for the trial is expected to take weeks. Hennepin County, Minnesota, will hold the trial, presuming they can find enough impartial jurors to seat a full twelve-person panel. Prospective jurors had to fill out an exhaustive 15-page questionnaire, including queries such as:
“Did you, or someone close to you, participate in any of the demonstrations or marches against police brutality that took place in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death?
o Yes, me
o Yes, someone close to me
o No.
If you participated, explain how much you were involved.
If you participated, did you carry a sign?
What did it say?”
The survey is so specific and invasive regarding potential jurors’ thoughts about Floyd’s death that it may be hard for them to find success in Hennepin County. The questionnaire asks what newspapers people read, what podcasts they listen to, and their opinion of Black Lives Matter. Minnesota is full of jurisdictions that weren’t subject to the flood of violence like Minneapolis was once the video showing Mr. Floyd’s demise went viral. Chauvin has a right to an unbiased jury, and we can expect a motion to move the trial if the survey returns look unfavorable to the defense.
No Air or No Blood?
George Floyd said he couldn’t breathe dozens of times in the video of his arrest. Don’t take it for granted that those statements can be relied on as medical truths. Floyd’s demise was due to “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” says the official medical examiner report. That means his heart stopped working because it couldn’t get blood. According to the criminal complaint:
“The autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease.”
While the official autopsy classified Floyd’s death as a homicide, that judgment is devoid of a criminal legal conclusion. The report itself states that it “is not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process.”
A second report exists because the Floyd family, led by the infamous race-hustling civil attorney Benjamin Crump, hired a pathologist to conduct an independent autopsy. That report states Floyd died from mechanical asphyxiation, not cardiac arrest. According to the independent report, and as Mr. Crump said: “George died because he needed a breath, he needed a breath of air.”
Which of these reports the jury buys will likely go a long way to deciding whether they will find Chauvin guilty of murder, manslaughter, or set him free instead.
Board Up The City
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well we all know how that ends.” Protesters previously caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage with little police interference after the recording of Floyd's death exploded. Harrington went on to say: “We are committed as part of the unified command to learn from history and not repeat it.” Police have advised residents to board up windows and make sure insurance policies are paid up.
Court TV is operating a feed from the only three cameras inside the courtroom, aimed at the judge, the witness box, and the prosecution and defense tables. Court TV will broadcast and live-stream the trial for 14 hours a day for the duration, starting at 9 am Monday.
Stay tuned right here to LibertyNation for continued reporting and analysis of the trial.
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Read more from Scott D. Cosenza.
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