MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – George Floyd’s murder judge rejected a defense request to immediately kidnap the jury on Monday morning after the murder of a black man during a traffic stop caused riots in a suburb on the outskirts of Minneapolis.
The request came from the lawyer of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that jurors could influence the perspective of what could happen as a result of his verdict.
“Ultimately, your lord, you wonder if the jury will be competent to make a decision regardless of the potential outcome of your decision,” Nelson said.
Judge Peter Cahill said he will not kidnap the jury until next Monday, when he predicts the final arguments will begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what they might have seen about the riots following police shooting Sunday on 20-year-old Daunte Wright at Brooklyn Center.
As a result of the shooting, hundreds of protesters stormed about 20 businesses in a mall, jumped on police cars and threw stones and other objects at Brooklyn Center agents, about 15 miles from the heavily fortified Minneapolis courthouse. Police with riot gear fired gas grenades and flash-bangs.
Later, the Brooklyn Center police chief accidentally called the shot, saying the officer who fired wanted to draw a Taser, not a gun.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher argued against the kidnapping of the Chauvin jury and said, “I don’t think this is an effective remedy.” He also objected to questioning the jurors.
“World events are happening,” Schleicher said. “And we can’t have all the world events that can affect someone’s attitude or emotional state or anything that is the basis for seeing all the jurors again.”
The judge previously told the jury to avoid the news during the trial.
The sentence came when the trial entered its third week, with the prosecution about to end the case and give way to the start of the defense. Prosecutors constructed his case based on eyewitness accounts, experts condemning Chauvin’s use of the neck measure, and medical authorities who attributed Floyd’s death to a lack of oxygen.
When testimony resumed Monday morning, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed previous witnesses by saying Floyd died of low oxygen levels 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 and had 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.”
Rich said he had reviewed Floyd’s autopsy report. He said narrowing of the arteries is extremely common and that Floyd had a slightly thickened or slightly enlarged heart, but that this would be normal in someone with high blood pressure.
Corroborating the testimony of other experts, Rich said Floyd was “potentially deadly detained,” noting, among other things, that he was head down on the floor, that he had a knee to his neck, that his hands were handcuffed. on his back and they pushed him. up and one knee in the lower half of the body.
Rich said that, as one officer pointed out in a video that Floyd was going through, police would probably still have been able to save his life if they had repositioned him so that his lungs could expand again. And once an officer noticed Floyd’s pulse had ceased, police still had a significant chance of saving his life by administering CPR, he said.
In cross-examination, Nelson tried to shift the blame to Floyd for fighting with police when they tried to put him in his car. The defense attorney asked Rich if Floyd would have survived if he had “simply gotten into the back seat of the squadron car.”
But Rich quickly reiterated that the death was caused by the actions of the officers: “If he had not been detained in his form, I think he would have survived that day. I think he would have gone home or wherever he went.”
Nelson replied, “So in other words, if I had gotten into the staff car, I would be alive.”
Derek Chauvin, 45, white, is charged with murder and manslaughter for Floyd’s May 25 death. Police had been called to a neighborhood market where Floyd was accused of trying to pass a counterfeit bill.
Prosecutors say Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck while the black man, 46, was lying on the pavement for 9 and a half minutes. Video of Floyd shouting “I can’t breathe!” until he finally became lame provoked protests and dispersed the violence in Minneapolis and the United States
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.