MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Prosecutors’ case against former officer Derek Chauvin closed on Monday with fond memories of George Floyd’s the little brother, along with another look at the bleak video and the testimony of an expert in the use of force who said no “reasonable” officer would have done what Chauvin was doing.
Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina Law School, judged Chauvin’s actions against what a reasonable police officer would have done in the same situation and repeatedly found that Chauvin did not meet the test.
“No reasonable officer would have thought it was an appropriate, acceptable, or reasonable use of force,” Stoughton said of the way Floyd stood with his knee to his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.
He said, too, that the failure to turn Floyd around and provide help “as his growing medical anguish became apparent” was irrational.
He said it was also unreasonable to think that Floyd could hurt officers or escape after being handcuffed to the ground. And again in Chauvin’s defense, Stoughton said a reasonable officer would not have seen the shouting spectators as a threat.
The question of what is reasonable carries a lot of weight: police officers have some latitude to use deadly force when someone puts the officer or other people in danger. But legal experts say a key question for the jury will be whether Chauvin’s actions were reasonable in these specific circumstances.
In cross-examination, Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, questioned Stoughton’s view that putting Floyd in the stomach in the first place was irrational and excessive.
“Reasonable minds can disagree, okay?” Nelson asked.
“At this particular point, no,” the witness said.
Prosecutors are expected to rest their case on Tuesday, after which the defense will begin presenting its side. For 11 days of testimony, prosecution experts, including the Minneapolis police chief and medical professionals, said the now-fired white officer violated his training and used excessive force and that Floyd died of misconduct. of oxygen due to the way in which breathing was restricted. .
Earlier Monday, Philonise Floyd, 39, took the witness stand and fondly remembered how her older brother made the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches, as George stepped on him when he grabbed a soccer ball and the way George marked his height. the boy wall because he wanted to grow taller.
She shed tears when she was shown a photo of her late mother and a young George, saying, “I miss you both.”
His testimony at Chauvin’s murder trial was part of an effort by prosecutors to humanize George Floyd before the jury and turn the 46-year-old black man into a criminal statistic. Minnesota is a rarity in allowing “spark of life” witness during the trial stage.
Philonise Floyd described growing up in a poor area of Houston with George and his other brothers.
He said Floyd was playing football and deliberately threw the ball at different angles, so Philonise would have to practice diving. “I always thought my brother couldn’t shoot. But I never intended to throw the ball to myself, “he said with a smile.
Earlier Monday, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request to immediately kidnap the jury the morning after the murder of a black man. during a traffic stop caused riots in a suburb on the outskirts of Minneapolis.
Chauvin’s lawyer had argued that jurors could influence the perspective of what might happen as a result of his verdict.
But the judge said he will not kidnap the jury until next Monday, when he expects the final discussions to begin. He also denied a request for a defense to question jury members about what they may have seen about Sunday’s police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright at Brooklyn Center.
As a result of the shooting, protesters stormed about 20 companies, jumped into police cars and threw rocks and other objects at Brooklyn Center officers, about 15 miles from the heavily fortified Minneapolis courthouse.
Later, the Brooklyn Center police chief accidentally called the shooting, saying the officer who fired it appeared to want to draw a Taser, not a gun.
Stoughton, an expert on uses of force, said officers who subdued Floyd should have known he was not trying to attack them when he fought and said frantically that he was claustrophobic as they tried to put him in a car. squadron.
“I don’t see him posing a threat of anything,” Stoughton said, adding that no reasonable officer would conclude otherwise.
Stoughton also pointed to cases in which Chauvin should have been aware of Floyd’s growing anguish: after an officer suggested he roll Floyd to his side, Chauvin said no. The 19-year-old police veteran ignored spectators shouting that Floyd was not responding. And when another officer said Floyd had no dust, Stoughton said, Chauvin’s response was “Huh.”
Mike Brandt, a local defense attorney who watched the case closely, said Philonise Floyd’s testimony was irrelevant to whether Chauvin caused Floyd’s death, “but it certainly plays on the jury’s sympathy.” He said Stoughton’s testimony gave prosecutors the opportunity to leave the jury “with one more image from the video” of Floyd advocating for his life.
“It was the separation of the state,” Brandt said.
Earlier Monday, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed previous witnesses saying Floyd died from low oxygen levels from the way he was detained by police.
He rejected the theories of the defense that Floyd died due to a drug overdose or heart disease. Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in the system, high blood pressure and narrowing of the heart arteries, according to the previous testimony.
“It was the true propensity moderation and position restrictions that led to his suffocation,” Rich said.
In fact, the expert said, “All indicators indicate that Mr. Floyd had an exceptionally strong heart.”
In cross-examination, Nelson tried to shift the blame to Floyd, asking him if Floyd would have survived if he “simply got into the back seat of the staff car.”
But Rich rejected this argument: “If he had not been retained in his form, I think he would have survived that day. I think I would have gone home or wherever I went.
Chauvin’s lawyer he is expected to call his own medical experts in order to give the case that it was not the agent’s knee that killed Floyd. The defense has not said whether Chauvin will testify.
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Find full AP coverage of George Floyd’s death at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.