City on edge awaiting Chauvin verdict
Barricades go up, protesters gather as jury deliberates
The murder case against former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd went to the jury yesterday in a city on edge against another round of unrest like the one that erupted last year over the harrowing video of Chauvin with his knee on the black man’s neck.
The jury of six white people and six people who are black or multiracial began deliberating after nearly a full day of closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong.
The defence contended the white officer acted reasonably and that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a heart condition and illegal drug use.
The jurors deliberated about four hours before retiring for the night. They were due to resume today.
Chauvin, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, all of which require the jury to conclude that his actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable.
The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.
“Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher said in closing arguments, referring to the bystander video of Floyd pinned to the pavement with Chauvin’s knee.
Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson countered by arguing that Chauvin did what any reasonable police officer would have done after finding himself in a “dynamic” and “fluid” situation involving a large man struggling with three officers.
With the case drawing to a close,
some stores were boarded up in Minneapolis. The courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard troops were on patrol. The city has also been on edge in recent days over the deadly police shooting of a 20-yearold black man, Daunte Wright, in a nearby suburb on April 11.
About 300 protesters marched in the streets outside the courthouse shortly after the jury got the case.
Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell had the final word yesterday, offering the state’s rebuttal argument. The prosecutor, who is black, said the questions about the use of force and cause of death are “so simple that a child can understand it”.
“In fact, a child did understand it, when the 9-year-old girl said, ‘Get off of him’,” Blackwell said, referring to a young witness who objected to what she saw.
Nelson noted that officers who first went to the corner store where Floyd allegedly passed a counterfeit US$20 bill were struggling with Floyd when Chauvin arrived as backup. The defence attorney also pointed out that the first two officers on the scene were rookies and that police had been told Floyd might be on drugs.
Nelson also showed the jury pictures of pills found in Floyd’s SUV and pill remnants discovered in the squad car. Fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in Floyd’s system.
The defence said the failure of the prosecution to acknowledge that medical problems or drugs played a role “defies medical science and it defies common sense and reason”.
Schleicher rejected the drug overdose argument, as well as the contention that police were distracted by hostile onlookers, that Floyd had “superhuman” strength and that he suffered possible carbon monoxide poisoning from auto exhaust.
Blackwell, his fellow prosecutor, likewise rejected the defence theory that Floyd died because of an enlarged heart: “The truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr Chauvin’s heart was too small.”
Earlier, Schleicher described how Chauvin ignored Floyd’s cries and continued to kneel on him well after he stopped breathing and had no pulse. Chauvin was “on top of him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and he had to know,” Schleicher said.