George Floyd’s death trial enters its final stage. After the speeches, the jury is meeting to deliberate the verdict on the case: the jurors will have to decide if the former agent Derek Chauvin is guilty of murder for having pressed for more than 9 minutes the knee on the neck of the 46-year-old African American, who the he begged to stop.
Before they left the courtroom to begin their deliberations, Judge Peter Cahill outlined the instructions they must follow: “As a juror, you are asked to make an important decision in this case,” said the judge. asking jurors to take “the time necessary to think carefully about the evidence”, to analyze why the decision is being made, examining whether prejudices are affecting it, to “listen to each other” because “listening to different perspectives can help you better identify the possible effects of hidden bias “, to resist the temptation to” jump to conclusions based on personal likes or dislikes “and to guard against” generalizations, gut feelings, stereotypes or unconscious prejudices “until to a unanimous verdict.
In his speech, attorney Eric Nelson, defender of the agent, told jurors that the information Chauvin had at the time he detained Floyd would prompt any reasonable agent to take the same actions, arguing that there is no point in asserting that others factors such as drug use and heart condition played “no role” in Floyd’s death. “The state has failed to prove his allegations beyond a reasonable doubt,” Nelson said. “Therefore, Mr. Chauvin should be found not guilty of all charges.”
In the reply, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell argued instead that Nelson misinterpreted the law. “When he talks about causation, he talks about fentanyl, heart failure, hypertension, he says we have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that none of these other factors played a role,” the prosecutor said. Instead, “what we have to prove is that the defendant’s actions were a substantial causal factor in his death. It doesn’t have to be the only causal factor. It doesn’t have to be the biggest substantial factor. Blackwell said.
“There is no excuse for police abuses,” the prosecutor repeatedly remarked. “They said the paramedics took longer than expected to arrive. They should have been there within three minutes. And common sense will tell you that the mere fact that the paramedics took longer than Mr. Chauvin might have thought, does not. it was a reason to use excessive force or to be indifferent to the fact that someone no longer breathes and has no pulse. “
“It has been said, for example, that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big. You heard that testimony – he pointed out, concluding his reply -. And now after having seen all the evidence and having listened to the evidence, you know the truth, and the truth is that the reason George Floyd died is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small. “