Derek Chauvin trial

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Defense counsel casts doubt on placement of Chauvin’s knee

 

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Chauvin Trial Day 7 Wrap-Up: a horrible day for the prosecution

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George Floyd’s alleged drug dealer worried about possible murder charge

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Live updates: LAPD sergeant agrees that knee at base of neck is ‘standard protocol’

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Justice And The Question Of Process Versus Outcome

The left is almost assured to be outraged by a Chauvin verdict that falls short of its sense of justice as outcome. America must brace itself for the coming conflict over this trial.  Yet we must understand that the left swept us into a more fundamental conflict some time ago. The Chauvin trial is just one case in a societal adjudication between our left and the rest of America over what justice is: Process or outcome? 

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3 hours ago, Geee said:

Justice And The Question Of Process Versus Outcome

The left is almost assured to be outraged by a Chauvin verdict that falls short of its sense of justice as outcome. America must brace itself for the coming conflict over this trial.  Yet we must understand that the left swept us into a more fundamental conflict some time ago. The Chauvin trial is just one case in a societal adjudication between our left and the rest of America over what justice is: Process or outcome? 

 

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The case calls to mind another inflammatory one from America’s past. More than two centuries ago, an incensed community had difficulty holding a fair trial, to the point that no attorney would defend the accused. Approached as a last resort, John Adams accepted the role at great risk and with equal trepidation. The trial was that of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

 

 

 

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The Chauvin Trial So Far

John Hinderaker

April 8, 2021

Here in Minnesota and around the country, all eyes are on the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the alleged murder of George Floyd. We are nearing the end of the prosecution’s case, so this is perhaps an opportune moment to assess what has happened so far. While not listening to every moment of the testimony, I have followed the trial closely. Much could be said, but here are a few big-picture observations:

* The defense got off to a slow start. Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s only in-court lawyer, was rather passive during jury selection and, I thought, delivered a sub-par opening statement. But he has gained steam during cross-examination of the state’s witnesses, which he has done skillfully. And the jury has seen him as one fallible man standing against the immense power of the state. This might create sympathy in unexpected quarters.

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So, is there any chance that Derek Chauvin might be acquitted? As you can tell from these notes, I have become sympathetic to his defense. But it is too early to tell what conclusion the evidence will point toward.

The prosecution will conclude its case with expert witnesses on cause of death, the key issue in the case. Did Minneapolis police officers kill George Floyd by kneeling on him, as the local and national press have relentlessly asserted for nearly a year? Or did Floyd die of a drug overdose, with the officers essentially bystanders? The medical evidence on both sides will be critical. We know that when he died, Floyd had something like three times a lethal dose of fentanyl in his system. How will the prosecution try to overcome that fact?

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The trial so far as been the world vs. Derek Chauvin and Eric Nelson. While the “dream team” prosecution has rotated counsel from the Attorney General’s office and various high-priced lawyers from Minnesota and D.C. who are working for free, Eric Nelson, outmanned and outgunned, has stood up alone for his client. Over the last two weeks, he has grown visibly tired and today he lost control over some exhibits through sheer exhaustion. (No one who hasn’t tried a jury case, even one of relatively modest length like the Chauvin trial, can understand what hard work it is.) Maybe the jury will look down on him, compared with the well-heeled prosecution team. Then again, maybe they will relate to a classic underdog story.

The trial’s result likely will come down to the medical testimony on both sides that we have not yet seen. But so far, I think Chauvin’s defense has held its own, and probably has surprised most members of the jury. *The political class may have expected to usher Derek Chauvin off to a speedy oblivion for the sake of a greater good, but instead, they have a fight on their hands.

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I believe regardless of the verdict this will go to the Appeals Court.

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BLM activists block traffic outside courthouse, force people to honk: ‘We’re not gonna let you through’

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Black Lives Matter protesters stand in the street. Twitter/Alex Belser

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Derek Chauvin Trial – Prosecution Problems Ignored or Misrepresented In Mainstream Media

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LIVE: Chauvin Trial Day 11 – Has State Eliminated Reasonable Doubt As Case Nears End?

Reasonable Doubt Before Defense Even Begins Is Bad For Conviction

Andrew Branca Monday, April 12, 2021 at 09:30am

As we enter the 11th full day of trial in this case, the state is rapidly approaching the end of its presentation for its case in chief. We are, therefore, nearing a major inflection point for this trial.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the criminal trial process, after opening statements by both sides, the state takes the first turn in presenting the jury with its case in chief, meaning its entire comprehensive argument to meet its burden to remove all reasonable doubt on the criminal charges brought against Chauvin.

These charges include second-degree murder (really, felony murder), third-degree murder (really, reckless homicide), manslaughter, and third-degree felony assault (the predicate for the felony murder charge). A more detailed overview of these criminal charges is discussed in our previous commentary and analysis, here:  Chauvin Pre-Trial Day 1: 3d Degree Murder Throws Wrench Into Jury Selection Process.

After the state has finished presenting all the witnesses and evidence that they believe prove the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt, they rest their case, and it becomes the turn of the defense to present witnesses and evidence that they believe create a reasonable doubt.

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Note video At Link

Chauvin Trial Day 11 Update – State’s Desperate Moves Reveal Vulnerabilities In Prosecution of Chauvin

Prosecutor Schlieter: “Authorized use of force a complete defense to all charges.”

Andrew Branca Monday, April 12, 2021 at 03:06pm

This is not our end-of-day wrap-up post, folks, that’s still to come later this evening, but there were some interesting arguments made in court before the jury was brought in that I thought worth sharing with you because they appear to indicate that the prosecution is beginning to panic about some profound weaknesses in this case.

The specific arguments I have in mind centered around the state’s upcoming use-of-force expert Professor Seth Stoughton. He’s long been scheduled to testify that based on national standards—not Minneapolis Police Department standards—that in his opinion Chauvin’s use of force was unreasonable.  This testimony was being allowed even though there is no evidence that Chauvin has ever been made aware of standards other than those imposed by Minneapolis Police Department.

Defense Counsel Nelson filed a motion that asked Judge Cahill to exclude Stoughton’s testimony entirely, on the grounds that it is cumulative in nature. That is, in court one is allowed to bring in a witness to argue a legal or factual point in court, but not an unlimited number of witnesses on the same point—to do so risks creating a fundamental unfairness in the proceedings.  So one witness on a given point, OK, two are OK, three or four being to feel sketchy on this issue, seven or eight start to feel over the top.

This has always been a concern of the defense, because the state had a witness list of some 400 people—no, I’m not kidding—most of whose testimony would necessarily be duplicative and cumulative.

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Live updates: Police consultant says Chauvin did not use ‘deadly’ force, actions were ‘objectively reasonable’

Follow along here for live updates from week three of the Derek Chauvin trial.

Alpha News Staff

April 13, 2021

Tuesday, April 13

The state rested its case Tuesday morning, at which point the defense began calling witnesses.

Barry Brodd, consultant in police practices and use of force, testified Tuesday afternoon. He explained how he assesses use of force cases and testified that Derek Chauvin did not use deadly force against George Floyd.

In order to detain a suspect, Brodd said, an officer must only have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person committed a crime.

“I felt that Officer Chauvin’s interactions with Mr. Floyd were following his training, following current practices of policing, and were objectively reasonable,” Brodd said.

 

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LIVE: Chauvin Trial Day 13 – BREAKING – Motion for Judgment of Acquittal Denied, Defense Case Continues

Also, state has dumped >5,000 pieces of evidence on defense during trial

Andrew Branca

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Today, the 13^th of this trial, the defense presents the second day of its case in chief to the jury, in its effort to create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors as to the criminal charges for which Chauvin is being tried.  As always, we’ll be LIVE streaming and LIVE blogging the court proceedings below.

At the end of court yesterday, after the jury had been excused for the day, the lawyers and judge did some legal housekeeping on some of the exhibits—the non-testimonial evidence in court such as videos, photographs, graphs, training manuals, and reports—which was, as one might expect, rather boring to watch.

A couple of points were made during those discussions that I thought worth sharing with all of you, however, before today’s proceedings start.

Court to Heart Motion for Judgment of Acquittal This Morning

The first item of interest is that at 8:45am CT this morning the court will be hearing motions (requests from the parties) in this case, and one of those will be a motion of acquittal submitted by the defense.

As some background, when a prosecution rests its case in chief there is a theoretical possibility that even if everything the state said was accepted as true by the jury, that a rational guilty verdict would still be impossible.

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Live updates: Medical expert says manner of George Floyd’s death is ‘undetermined’

Follow along here for live updates from week three of the Derek Chauvin trial.

Alpha News Staff

April 14, 2021

Wednesday, April 14

Dr. David Fowler, forensic pathologist, testified for the defense Wednesday. He explained the side effects of fentanyl, which include slowing down respiration and decreasing oxygen in the bloodstream.

Fowler determined the manner of George Floyd’s death to be “undetermined,” due to “so many conflicting” manners, including carbon monoxide exposure, drug usage, natural disease, the presence of a tumor, and restraint.

However, he said the cause of death was heart disease, with a number of contributing factors, during restraint.

On cross examination, Fowler, “as a physician,” agreed that George Floyd should have been given immediate medical attention at the time he went into cardiac arrest.

On cross examination, Fowler was shown a still photo of Chauvin’s arm gripped around Floyd’s neck during the struggle in the squad car. On redirect, Fowler was shown body cam footage, rather than a single photo, of that same moment, and testified that Chauvin’s arm was “very loose” on Floyd. There was a “considerable gap” between Chauvin’s arm and Floyd’s neck, Fowler said.

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Live updates: Chauvin invokes his Fifth Amendment right, will not testifyl.

Alpha News Staff

April 15, 2021

Thursday, April 15

All evidence has been presented in this case. Court will resume Monday at 9 a.m. for closing arguments, after which the jury will go into deliberation and sequestration.

The defense rested their case Thursday morning. Judge Cahill allowed prosecution to call a rebuttal witness to testify on carbon monoxide effects on the body, a topic brought up by the defense yesterday.

Derek Chauvin invoked his Fifth Amendment right Thursday morning. He will not testify. He said the decision is solely his own, not the decision of his attorney.

Judge Cahill read the instruction he will read to the jury, approved by Chauvin.

“The state must convince you by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the crime charged. The defendant has no obligation to prove innocence. The defendant has the right not to testify. This right is guaranteed by the federal and state Constitutions. You should not draw any inference from the fact that the defendant has not testified in this case,” Cahill read. He will read this statement to the jury.

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Chauvin Trial Day 14 Wrap-Up: Mistrial Narrowly Avoided, Closing Arguments Monday

Defense offered no practicable opportunity to contest Dr. Tobin’s rebuttal testimony

Andrew Branca

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Today was mercifully brief in duration, but packed full of action—at least, for certain lawyer values of “action,” so let’s dive right in.

 

Two notable events I’ve already discussed in a breaking news post was the decision of the defense to call no further witnesses—and this included waiving the prospect of having Chauvin appear as a witness to testify on his own behalf.

Chauvin elected to assert his 5A right to not testify, and when offered to have the jury instructed that guilt could not be inferred from his not testifying, he affirmed he wanted that instruction given.  You can see my previous write-up of those events, including court room video of that discussion and exchange, here:

The big surprise of the day, however, was the state’s sudden claim that they had discovered “new evidence” that justified re-calling state expert witness Dr. Martin Tobin, pulmonologist, to the witness stand to rebut some of yesterday’s testimony by defense expert Dr. David Fowler, a forensic pathologist.

The “new evidence” was purportedly just-discovered data on Floyd’s blood oxygen levels when at the Hennepin County Medical Center.

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Random notes on the Chauvin trial

Scott Johnson

Apr. 18 2021

Having watched the trial of Derek Chauvin from jury selection all the way through the parties’ cases, I want to offer my notes and impressions of what I saw. Hoping to provide some background and items of possible interest, I will compensate for the limitations of my notes by keeping them brief and conclusory (although this post isn’t short). I can only say in their behalf this is the way I see the case.

On Monday the attorneys will make their closing arguments and Judge Cahill will instruct the jury in the law. The jury will be sequestered during their deliberations. They will begin deliberations with the election of a foreman. I would guess that the jury will return with a verdict by Wednesday.

Chauvin rested his defense on Thursday with the invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. I am not a juror in the case and am free to draw my own inferences from Chauvin’s silence. I always infer guilt from silence.

I was surprised by how far the case departed from my previous understanding of it. I think that the State presented a strong case and that Chauvin’s defense was thin and weak. The issue of drug abuse seemed to me to recede in importance as a cause of Chauvin’s death, even in the testimony of defense medical expert David Fowler. Indeed, defense counsel Eric Nelson chose not to call the toxicologist he had reportedly lined up as his last witness in the case.

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I have commented on the case every morning during the 7:55 a.m. segment of Justice & Drew on Twin Cities News Talk KTLK 1130 AM. Jon Justice and Drew Lee made something of the segment. During the evidentiary phase of the trial WCCO TV’s Jason DeRusha joined the segment at the top to provide the headlines and let me limit myself to commentary and analysis. The addition of Jason has made the segment stronger.

I’ve heard from a lot of old friends and acquaintances. The show has a terrific reach and indispensable coverage of local news. Episodes are available in podcast form here. It has been my goal to help listeners understand the outcome of the case, whatever it is.

I joined the Spectator’s Americano podcast with Freddy Gray to talk about the Chauvin case on Friday morning. I have embedded the podcast below. In the podcast I make most of the points I make above. I love the Spectator in both its British and American incarnations and it was a great pleasure to talk about the case with Freddy.

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Chauvin Trial Going to Jury – Legal Insurrection Will Hold Post-Verdict Online Event (Date TBA)

We don’t know when the verdict will be rendered, or what it will be. But regardless of outcome, Andrew Branca and I will hold an online event, date TBA. There will be an opportunity for Q&A.

William A. Jacobson

Saturday, April 17, 2021

On Monday, April 19, 2021, closing arguments will be held in the prosecution of Derek Chauvin for the in-custody death of George Floyd, and the case then will go to the jury. This is a heads up that after the verdict, Legal Insurrection will hold a post-verdict webinar assessing the outcome and how the case was handled. Andrew Branca and I will be panelists, it’s not clear yet if we will add others. There will be an opportunity for Q&A.

We don’t know when the webinar will be held because we don’t know when the verdict will come down. Once the verdict comes down, no matter what it is, the news and political cycle is going to be furious, but it’s our intention to hold the webinar fairly soon after the verdict.

My thoughts on where the case stands were set forth in two posts:

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