The Trial of George Floyd

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George Floyd, LT Nazario, Breonna Taylor: Excessive Force & the Broken Promise of the 4th Amendment
by Glenn Kirschner
Apr 12, 2021



The 4th Amendment provides a constitutional right against "unreasonable searches and seizures." This is a right that, per the express language of the United States Constitution, "shall not be violated." And yet it IS violated, with increasing frequency and seeming impunity. It's time for change. It's time to fulfill the constitution's promise for all Americans.

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Derek Chauvin Trial Breaks Down “Blue Wall of Silence” as Police Officials Testify Against Ex-Cop
by Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
4/13/21

We get the latest on the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, with Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong. She says prosecutors in the case have successfully chipped away at the “blue wall of silence” by getting current police officials to testify against Chauvin. However, she says it’s likely that “the only reason that these officers have testified is because the world is watching.”

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, as we continue to talk about what’s happening in Minnesota, now to the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, on trial for murdering George Floyd. The trial is taking place 10 miles from where a white police officer killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, Sunday.

On Monday, a cardiologist called as an expert witness in the Chauvin trial by the prosecution testified George Floyd died due to oxygen deprivation after Chauvin kneeled on his neck for over nine minutes. George Floyd’s brother Philonise also testified and talked about how close George was to his mother, who died in 2018.

PHILONISE FLOYD: And when we went to the funeral, it’s just — George just sat there at the casket. Over and over again, he would just say, “Mama, mama,” over and over again. And I didn’t know what to tell him, because I was in pain, too. We all were hurting. And he was just kissing her and just kissing her. He didn’t want to leave the casket. And everybody was like, “Come on. Come on. It’s going to be OK.” But it was just difficult, because no — I don’t know who can take that, when you watch your mother, somebody who loved and cherished you and nursed you for your entire life, and then they have to leave you. We all have to go through it, but it’s difficult. And George, he was just in pain the entire time.

STEVE SCHLEICHER: Sir, you indicated your mother passed away May 30. That was 2018. Is that right?

PHILONISE FLOYD: Yes, sir.

STEVE SCHLEICHER: Is that a picture of your mother and George when he was younger?

PHILONISE FLOYD: Yes, sir.

STEVE SCHLEICHER: Offer Exhibit 284.

JUDGE PETER CAHILL: 284 is received.

STEVE SCHLEICHER: Permission to publish? Sir, would you please describe this photo and what you know about it?

PHILONISE FLOYD: That’s my mother. She’s no longer with us right now, but — that’s my oldest brother, George. I miss both of them. I was married. In May 24th, I got married. And my brother was killed May 25th. And my mom died on May 30th. It’s like a bittersweet month, because I’m supposed to be happy when that month comes.

AMY GOODMAN: George Floyd’s brother Philonise testifying Monday. Derek Chauvin’s defense is due to call its first witnesses today.

To talk more about the trial of Derek Chauvin, we’re staying with Nekima Levy Armstrong, the Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney, activist, executive director of Wayfinder Foundation, former president of the Minneapolis NAACP.

Can you talk about the wrapping up of the prosecution? Once again, one officer after another, the leaders in the Minneapolis Police Department, and then experts saying that it was not a heart attack, it was not drugs, it was the cutting off of the oxygen supply by Chauvin’s knee — the significance of this? And also the significance of the defense asking to sequester the jury, given what happened with the murder of another African American man down the road? But, of course, the judge said no.

NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG: Well, prosecutors finished their case as strongly as they started, in terms of humanizing George Floyd, putting on extremely emotional testimony from the bystanders early on, as well as from George Floyd’s brother, who provided what’s called “spark of life” testimony in the state of Minnesota. One of the things that I think is important as a result of the testimony of George Floyd’s brother is the fact that his testimony paints a picture for the jury of what George Floyd’s life meant to the family and to the community, and how his death has impacted them.

I also think that the state did a really good job of providing expert witness testimony in the form of medical evidence, as well as use-of-force testimony, and also helping to break what some may call the “blue wall of silence” by having so many police officers testify in the prosecution’s case against [Derek Chauvin]. We know that through one trial, that blue wall of silence is not going to crumble, but it is a start. And Chief Arradondo has been able to set the tone for the department in terms of his expectations and sending a signal to officers that they will not be allowed to get away with this kind of behavior.

Now, on the flipside, there are folks who feel that the only reason that these officers have testified is because the world is watching. And I believe that there is a lot of truth to that, because some of the underlying issues within the Minneapolis Police Department, as far as the culture, have not yet changed.

Now, in terms of yesterday’s motion hearings, we heard from the defense counsel Eric Nelson that the unrest that happened on Sunday night would have an impact on the jury, so he was recommending that the jury be sequestered. Judge Cahill made the best decision in refusing to sequester the jury and articulating that these are two separate incidences. What happened in Brooklyn Center as a result of the killing of Daunte Wright at the hands of the police is not the same as what is happening in the trial of Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Nekima, I wanted to ask you, in terms of the decision by Governor Tim Walz to issue a curfew for several counties in the Twin Cities area from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. Tuesday, and given the fact that we’re dealing with — this is the beginning of Ramadan, your thoughts about these restrictions?

NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG: I think that the restrictions are ridiculous, from my perspective, as someone who has been out on the frontlines. I’ve been out both nights, along with Jaylani Hussein and many other activists and organizers.

It is really upsetting that the governor would issue a curfew rather than working proactively to curb police violence and set the tone by using his bully pulpit, pushing for policy changes and really advocating for the rights of Black people and other people of color who have been abused by police. Instead, what we’re seeing is the governor push for more funding for law enforcement, bring in the National Guard, help to set up barricades and chain-link fencing around the courthouse and other buildings throughout the Twin Cities, and now this additional curfew.

Many young people last night intentionally violated the curfew because they’re sending a signal that they are fed up with police violence in the state of Minnesota and not feeling safe as young Black people out in the community.

AMY GOODMAN: Nekima Levy Armstrong, we want to thank you being with us, Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney, activist, executive director of the Wayfinder Foundation.

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Prosecution Rests Case in Murder Trial of Minneapolis Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin
by Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
APR 13, 2021

The police killing of Daunte Wright took place just 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis, where former officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for killing George Floyd last May. On Monday, a cardiologist called as an expert witness by the prosecution testified that Floyd died due to oxygen deprivation — not from drugs or a heart condition — after Derek Chauvin pressed him into the pavement for over nine minutes. Another expert witness, law professor and former police officer Seth Stoughton, blasted Chauvin’s actions.

Seth Stoughton: “No reasonable officer would have believed that that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force.”

George Floyd’s brother Philonise gave tearful testimony as the prosecution wrapped up its case. Derek Chauvin’s defense is due to call its first witnesses today. After headlines, we’ll go to Minneapolis for the latest on the police killings of Daunte Wright and George Floyd.

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Did Chauvin's Defense Witnesses Score ANY Points or Did They Actually Hurt Chauvin's Case?
by Glenn Kirschner
Apr 13, 2021



Here's a recap of the witnesses who testified Tuesday in the Chauvin trial for the homicide of George Floyd. A review of the witnesses suggest that the defense may be doing itself more harm than good.

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Witness for Derek Chauvin’s Defense Claims George Floyd Died of Heart Disease, Drugs and Car Fumes
by Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
APR 15, 2021

A few miles south of Brooklyn Center, the murder trial of Derek Chauvin continues today with speculation growing over whether the former Minneapolis police officer will take the stand in his own defense. On Wednesday, a forensic pathologist called by Chauvin’s lawyers testified that George Floyd died of heart trouble — rather than a lack of oxygen. Dr. David Fowler, the former chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland, dismissed an official autopsy report that found Floyd died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to restraint and neck compression.

Video of Floyd’s death shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes — including for several minutes after Floyd stopped responding. But Dr. Fowler claimed Floyd died from a combination of heart disease, drug use and tailpipe emissions from a police cruiser.

Dr. David Fowler: “There is exposure to a vehicle exhaust, so potentially carbon monoxide poisoning.”

Under cross-examination, Dr. Fowler admitted there was no evidence of carbon monoxide in George Floyd’s blood. He also conceded that George Floyd should have been given medical attention — and might have survived if officers had rendered aid.

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Expert Witness for Derek Chauvin’s Defense Sued over Black Teen’s Death at Hands of Maryland Police
by Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
APR 15, 2021

Dr. David Fowler is being sued by the family of 19-year-old Anton Black, an African American teenager from Maryland who died in 2018 after he was electrocuted with a Taser, pinned in a prone position and crushed under the weight of three white police officers and a white civilian as he struggled to breathe and lost consciousness. Black died on the front porch of his mother’s home as she was forced to stand by, watching. After an autopsy, Dr. Fowler ruled Black’s death an accident, and no one was charged with a crime. The wrongful death lawsuit says Dr. Fowler delayed release of an autopsy report for months and covered up police responsibility for Black’s death.

Black’s sister, LaToya Holley, said this week, “It’s surreal that you have two men on the opposite sides of the country that experienced almost the same treatment by two different police officers. The medical examiner, in my opinion, was egregious in the way he finalized Anton’s autopsy results. Now, he’s being called to be an expert witness for another police officer.”

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Why Chauvin's Expert Witness, Medical Examiner David Fowler, Actually LOST Points for the Defense
by Glenn Kirschner
Apr 14, 2021

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Derek Chauvin presented the testimony of medical examiner/forensic pathologist Dr. David Fowler. He offered different (and often unsupportable) opinions than all other experts on George Floyd's cause and manner of death. Here's a takedown of his testimony and why he likely lost more points than he won for the defense.

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A Recap of the Closing Arguments in the Derek Chauvin Case. It's All Over but the . . . Justice
by Glenn Kirschner
April 19, 2021



The closing arguments had some interesting twists and turns. Here's a review of the performance and some of the best lines of prosecutors Steve Schleicher and Jerry Blackwell, and some of the problematic arguments of defense attorney Eric Nelson. And now we wait for justice for George Floyd. Because Justice Matters.

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Guilty on All Counts: Derek Chauvin Verdict Triggers Relief & Determination to Keep Fighting
by Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
APRIL 21, 2021
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/4/21/ ... _reactions

A jury in Minneapolis has convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin on three counts for murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds last year. The jury reached its decision after 10 hours of deliberation. Derek Chauvin will be sentenced in two months. He faces up to 40 years in prison for the most serious charge, second-degree murder. He is the first white police officer in Minnesota to ever be convicted of killing a Black man. We feature reactions from people gathered outside the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, comments from George Floyd’s brother and nephew, as well as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: A jury in Minneapolis has convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin on all three counts for murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds last May. Chauvin is the first white police officer in Minnesota to ever be convicted of killing a Black person. The jury reached its decision after 10 hours of deliberation. Just after 5 p.m. Eastern time, Judge Peter Cahill read the jury’s decision.

JUDGE PETER CAHILL: “We, the jury in the above-entitled matter, as to count one, unintentional second-degree murder while committing a felony, find the defendant guilty. … We, the jury in the above-entitled matter, as to count two, third-degree murder perpetrating an eminently dangerous act, find the defendant guilty. … We, the jury in the above-entitled matter, as to count three, second-degree manslaughter, culpable negligence creating an unreasonable risk, find the defendant guilty.”

AMY GOODMAN: Moments later, Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and taken into custody. He’ll be sentenced in two months. He faces up to 40 years in prison for the most serious charge, second-degree murder.

Outside the Minneapolis Courthouse, crowds erupted in cheers when the verdicts were announced.

CROWD: Guilty! Guilty!

AMY GOODMAN: Residents of Minneapolis described feeling relieved by the jury’s decision to convict Derek Chauvin.

SEMHAR SOLOMON: With the verdict today, I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. But I know that the work’s not done. I know that there’s a lot of work to do, but I think, for today, like, I — like, Black people have their pride. Black people have their liberation. And I think today is just a day to celebrate. But tomorrow is another day to work.

AMY GOODMAN: George Floyd’s younger brother Philonise addressed reporters. He invoked the name of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Chicago boy who was lynched in 1955 in Mississippi.

PHILONISE FLOYD: He was the first George Floyd. But today, you have the cameras all around the world to see and show what happened to my brother. It was a motion picture, the world seeing his life being extinguished. And I could do nothing but watch. … We have to protest, because it seems like this is a never-ending cycle. Reverend Al always told me we’ve got to keep fighting. I’m going to put up a fight every day, because I’m not just fighting for George anymore, I’m fighting for everybody around this world. I get calls. I get DMs, people from Brazil, from Ghana, from Germany, everybody, London, Italy. They’re all saying the same thing: We won’t be able to breathe until you are able to breathe. Today, we are able to breathe again.

AMY GOODMAN: George Floyd’s nephew Brandon Williams also spoke and called for reforms to policing in the United States.

BRANDON WILLIAMS: So, today is a pivotal moment for America. It’s something this country has needed for a long time now. And hopefully today is the start of that. When I say a pivotal moment, we need change in this broken system. It was built to oppress us. … We need police reform bad. These guys are able to wear a badge and go out in the field, which means that they’re qualified and trained to do their job at a high level. But when you shoot and kill a man that’s running away from you, that doesn’t pose a threat, either you’re not qualified and undertrained or it’s a choice and you want to kill Black men and women. It’s either one or the other. And I think today Keith Ellison and his team proved that just because you are the law, you’re not above the law. We need each and every officer to be held accountable. And until then, it’s still scary to be a Black man or woman in America encountering police.

AMY GOODMAN: The Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton stood behind the family members as they spoke. Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network spoke alongside the Floyd family.

REV. AL SHARPTON: We don’t find pleasure in this. We don’t celebrate a man going to jail. We would have rather George be alive. But we celebrate that we — because young people, white and Black, some castigated, many that are here tonight, marched and kept marching and kept going, many of them looked down on but they kept marching and wouldn’t let this die. And this is an assurance to them that if we don’t give up, that we can win some rounds. But the war and the fight is not over. Just two days from now, we’re going to have to deal with the funeral of Daunte Wright, in the same county, the same area. We still have cases to fight. But this gives us the energy to fight on. And we are determined that we’re going to fight until we make federal law. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act must be law.

AMY GOODMAN: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was in charge of the prosecution. He also referenced the recent police killing of Daunte Wright in nearby Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.

ATTORNEY GENERAL KEITH ELLISON: We have seen Rodney King, Abner Louima, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Laquan McDonald, Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, Anton Black, Breonna Taylor, and now Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo. This has to end. We need true justice. That’s not one case. That is a social transformation that says that nobody is beneath the law and no one is above it. This verdict reminds us that we must make enduring, systemic, societal change.

AMY GOODMAN: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota and the first Muslim elected to statewide office anywhere in the United States. President Biden addressed the nation Tuesday and condemned systemic racism.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the vice president just referred to, the systemic racism that’s a stain on our nation’s soul, the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans, profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion, that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day. The murder of George Floyd launched a summer a protest we hadn’t seen since the civil rights era in the ’60s, protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose to say, “Enough. Enough. Enough of this senseless killings.”

AMY GOODMAN: Kamala Harris, the nation’s first African American vice president, spoke just before President Biden.

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Today we feel a sigh of relief. Still, it cannot take away the pain. A measure of justice isn’t the same as equal justice. This verdict brings us a step closer. And the fact is, we still have work to do. We still must reform the system.

AMY GOODMAN: When we come back, we’ll spend the rest of the hour looking at the Chauvin verdict, and we’ll speak with Kandace Montgomery of Black Visions Collective in Minnesota and Harvard professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad. Stay with us.

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Derek Chauvin Guilty of Murder, Justice for George Floyd. Time to Get Justice Trending in America
by Glenn Kirschner
Apr 20, 2021



A jury convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd. We may now have an opportunity together justice trending in America.

Also, here is why Rep. Maxine Waters's comments will not provide Derek Chauvin a viable issue on appeal.