Chauvin decides to not testify
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin said on Thursday that he would not testify at his murder trial for the death of George Floyd, as a policewoman facing charges for the killing of another Black American made her first court appearance.
Kim Potter, 48, charged with seconddegree manslaughter for the death of Daunte Wright, was ordered during a brief Zoom hearing to appear before a county judge on May 17.
Wright’s shooting in a Minneapolis suburb on last Sunday — during which Potter appears to have mistakenly fired her gun instead of her Taser — further fuelled tensions in the Minnesota city already on edge amid Chauvin’s trial.
“Over and over again, they come up with justifications,” said Ben Crump, a lawyer for the Wright family. “We’re done accepting the justifications, America.”
The prosecution and defence in Chauvin’s trial rested on Thursday after the state called a final witness and Chauvin said he would exercise his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
“I will invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege today,” Chauvin told Judge Peter Cahill.
“Is this your decision — not to testify?” the judge asked the former police officer, who was wearing a grey suit with a dark blue shirt and dark blue tie. “It is, your honour,” Chauvin said. The 45-year-old Chauvin was recorded kneeling on the neck of the 46-year-old Floyd for more than nine minutes during his May 25, 2020 arrest in Minneapolis for allegedly using a counterfeit US$20 (624 baht) bill.
A bystander video of the arrest went viral and sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality in the US and around the world. Judge Cahill gave the nine-woman, five-man jury a day off yesterday before closing arguments Monday.
The judge reminded the jurors that they would be sequestered for their deliberations and told them they should “plan for long and hope for short” when packing their bags.
Potter, who resigned from the police department of Brooklyn Center, a suburb of the Midwestern city of Minneapolis, after Wright’s shooting during a traffic stop, spoke just a few words during her Zoom court appearance.
She was asked by Judge Paul Scoggin if she was present in her attorney’s office. “Yes, I am,” said Potter, who has been free on $100,000 bail.
A 26-year police veteran, Potter faces a maximum of 10 years in jail if convicted of second-degree manslaughter.
Wright’s mother Katie Wright said she wants “accountability, 100 percent, the highest accountability. But even then, when that happens — if that even happens — we’re still going to bury our son... So when people say ‘Justice,’ I just shake my head,” she said.