Lawyers for former police officer Derek Chauvin took the wrong approach when questioning the prosecution’s expert testimony, Civil Rights lawyer David Henderson said Thursday.
“They did no harm,” Henderson told CNBC on “The News with Shepard Smith.” “Don’t try to fight a gorilla. This doctor is very clearly qualified, he knows more than you about medical things.”
Dr. Martin Tobin, an expert medical expert from the prosecution, is a recognized lung specialist who works in critical care. He concluded that “Floyd died due to low oxygen levels.” Tobin’s testimony came on the ninth day of Chauvin’s murder trial.
Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, suggested that Tobin’s report only picked up a small portion of what happened during George Floyd’s arrest last May.
Henderson explained that instead of focusing on the medical data, Chauvin’s defense team failed to seize a “in” that Tobin gave them during the testimony.
The Chicago-based doctor said there were four key factors that contributed to Floyd’s suffocation. He said Floyd was “leaning on the street, holding his handcuffs in place combined with the street, having a knee on his neck and having a knee on his back and side.”
Henderson added that Chauvin’s knee in Floyd’s neck was just one of those factors.
“There are three other factors, since Derek Chauvin’s knee has to be the factor that contributes substantially, it’s what you should have to do in an interrogation,” Henderson said. “There are three other ways that could have caused George Floyd ‘s death that are not directly attributable [Chauvin]. “
Henderson, a former CNBC prosecutor and contributor, also said Tobin did effectively “crush” the defense’s claim that the drugs (especially fentanyl) could have caused George Floyd’s death.
Chauvin’s defense team did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.