Prof: High court’s denial of public defender for Derek Chauvin could add fuel to his appeal - "The fact that the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Derek Chauvin’s request for a public defender could become the basis for yet another appeal question, according to a law professor. “If he has to get the case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, this will become one of the issues in addition to any other appeal questions he tries to preserve,” said University of Minnesota Law School professor David Schultz. “He may allege that he couldn't get a fair appeal because they didn't provide a public defender.” Schulz was responding to a critic's post on Twitter stating that ‘The Boston Bomber had 5 public defenders.’ “The Boston bomber was a death penalty case and I wonder if they gave him more public defenders because of the death penalty,” Schultz told Legal Newsline. “Second, maybe the Minnesota courts are turning their back on Derek Chauvin, which may eventually factor into an appeal.”"
Derek Chauvin Jurors Say It Was What He ‘Didn’t Do’ That Led To Guilty Verdict - "The jury in the Derek Chauvin trial was initially divided on whether to find him guilty of murdering George Floyd, but was ultimately persuaded by what he “didn’t do” during the arrest--as opposed to the now-infamous images of the former cop kneeling on Floyd’s neck... Juror Nicole Deters said four or five people were leaning toward “not guilty” or undecided for the third-degree murder charge until fellow juror Jodi Doud highlighted that its requirement of intended harm could come from Chauvin not providing life support instead of his restraint of Floyd during the arrest... "I brought up the fact that this is not what he did but more or less what he didn’t do,” Doud recalled. “He didn’t provide life saving measures for George Floyd when he knew that the guy was in pain or needed medical attention.”"
George Floyd killing: defense rests case after Derek Chauvin declines to testify - "the defence’s leading medical expert, Dr David Fowler, also introduced the idea that carbon monoxide from vehicle exhaust contributed to Floyd’s death. And on Thursday, the judge allowed the prosecution to recall one of its key witnesses, Dr Martin Tobin, to rebut Fowler’s testimony. Tobin challenged Fowler’s assertion that the level of carboxyhemoglobin in Floyd’s blood – carbon monoxide attached to protein which displaces oxygen – was between 10% and 18% which would have contributed to heart failure. “I believe it is not reliable,” said Tobin. Tobin said tests showed Floyd’s blood oxygen saturation was 98%, leaving just 2% for “everything else”. Last week, Tobin, a pulmonologist, told the trial that Chauvin and the other officers caused Floyd’s death by cutting his oxygen supply which caused brain damage and his heart to stop"
98% blood oxygen means he can't have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, but it also means he died from a lack of oxygen
George Floyd Trial: Final State Witnesses Give Testimony as Trial Nears End - "“Hypothetically, there are undoubtedly people who have died from coronary events with 90% blockages, or without blockages. In a hypothetical case, somebody who has any extent of coronary heart disease including the descriptions you just gave could actually die.”
Referring to methamphetamine, Nelson asked Dr Rich if the drug was a vaso-constrictor. Dr Rich agreed, stating that methamphetamine “narrows the [vessels] down more” and he would never recommend anybody taking the drug recreationally. Additionally, Nelson directed Dr Rich to elaborate on a number of other topics. On the effects of adrenaline, Dr Rich stated:
“Adrenaline, which is the lay term for catecholamines, gets the heart to pump more blood. When we go and exercise, the purpose of adrenaline is so we can run and we can jump, and we ask the heart to allow us to do that.”
On Mr Floyd’s resistance to being placed in the squad car, Dr Rich conceded:
“Had he not been restrained in the way in which he was, I think he would have survived that day.”
However, Dr Rich agreed with Nelson that “in an ordinary individual,” the prone position is not inherently dangerous."
At the heart of Derek Chauvin’s trial is this question: What killed George Floyd? - The Washington Post - "According to notes of a meeting between Baker and prosecutors that have been filed as evidence in the case, the medical examiner told them that if Floyd had been “found dead at home alone and no other apparent causes,” it would have been “acceptable” to call his death an overdose. But, Baker added, “I am not saying this killed him.”... Baker also told prosecutors he found “no bruising” on Floyd’s neck or damage to muscles or the structure around the neck, a detail the defense cites as proof Chauvin had not intended to “inflict harm” on Floyd. “Mr. Chauvin was cautious about the amount of pressure he used to restrain Mr. Floyd — cautious enough to prevent bruising,” his attorney wrote."
Medical examiner who performed George Floyd's autopsy is NOT in line with experts' testimony - "The Chief Medical Examiner who carried out George Floyd's autopsy has stated that he did not find the cause of death to be asphyxia or low oxygen levels and that he did not believe that Chauvin's knee was on Floyd's neck for 'the majority' of the time. In a massive departure from the prosecution's contention Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker said, 'In my impression from the video it would appear that Mr. Chauvin's knee was primarily on the back, on the side or the area in between Mr. Floyd's neck (and back).' Under cross examination Friday afternoon Dr. Baker told the court that asphyxia was 'a very common cause' of the deaths that he had seen across 2,900 to 3,000 autopsies but it was not the conclusion that he came to before, or after, having seen the videos of the incident on May 25, 2020. In a startlingly brief direct questioning by Jerry Blackwell, Dr. Baker told the court that Floyd died because being pinned down on the ground with his neck compressed was, 'just more than he could take,' given his severe underlying heart disease. Asked if, in his opinion, the positioning of Chauvin's knee would cut off Floyd's oxygen supply, Dr. Baker said, 'In my opinion it would not.' In his view, he said, 'It was the stress of that interaction that tipped him over the edge given his underlying heart disease and his toxicological status... As to toxicology, Dr. Baker said that in other circumstances he would consider the levels of fentanyl in Floyd's bloodstream to be 'lethal.' As for methamphetamine Dr. Baker said, 'All other things being equal methamphetamine is not good if you have bad coronary arteries.' It was not, he said, something that he would want to see in the blood of someone who had heart disease"
Chelsea Handler Blasted for Suggesting Derek Chauvin Trial Be Skipped - "Handler described the trial as “pathetic” before suggesting a video of the event should suffice to prove his guilt... Handler suggested all murder trials be “skipped” when a video is available... “Handler is a reminder of how the Constitution protects the individuals from the masses as well as from the government,” wrote yet another Twitter user. “So she defends to her death racist bigot Louis Farrakhan. But doesn’t want a police officer accused of a major crime to have full exercise his Constitutional rights as an American. Yup, that’s Chelsea Handler in a nutshell,” attorney and political commentator Debbie Schlussel tweeted... “A major problem with wokeness is that performative woke whites become so addicted to the narrative that it creates a spiral of virtue signaling, leading to insane stuff like this,” Senior Research Analyst for The Club for Growth Andrew Follett wrote. “I’m honestly not sure what’s more disturbing, if Handler really has gone full ‘people whom I think are guilty don’t deserve trials’ or if she’s ‘just’ feels compelled to say that to maintain woke ‘street cred’ with her fellow deranged Libs in a race to the bottom,” he added. Handler has a history of irresponsible and inflammatory statements. In October, Handler stoked anti-law enforcement sentiment by claiming black men and women are “regularly murdered by police” in the United States. In May, Handler blamed “the racist right” for rising extremism and hate by leftists, saying those who “think … murder is reasonable” should “vote Republican.” Last February, Handler was criticized after falsely suggesting former President Donald Trump only exonerates or pardons white people, despite him having chosen blacks and Native Americans for clemency."
Of course, if someone were to suggest convicting black men based on video footage without a trial...
BLM activist: 'All hell' will break loose and buildings will burn 'if George Floyd's murderer is not sentenced' - "A Black Lives Matter activist with roughly a half-million followers on social media warned that “all hell” will break loose if former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is not convicted of killing George Floyd. "If George Floyd's murderer is not sentenced, just know that all hell is gonna break loose," model and social media influencer Maya Nichols posted on TikTok this week. "Don't be surprised when buildings are on fire. Just sayin'.""
Trying to subvert the legal process to obtain the Correct(TM) result is good
Chauvin Trial: Witness Defends Former Officer's Restraint Of George Floyd : Live Updates: Trial Over George Floyd's Killing - " Brodd described the position in which Floyd was restrained — facedown on the ground — as being safest for officers and suspect. And he added that holding a person in that position does not make it more dangerous. "If the officer is justified in using the prone control, the maintaining of the prone control is not a use of force. It's a control technique," he testified. "It doesn't hurt."... Brodd said it is a safe position for suspects who may be in danger of vomiting because they are already facedown so nothing can obstruct the airway. Officers, he said, are often told that if a person can vocalize that they can't breathe, they often can."
Somehow NPR is taking on the role of the prosecution, dedicating most of the article to questioning the witness
Derek Chauvin trial: Ex-cop did NOT use deadly force against George Floyd, police says - "Brodd said that he taught officers to keep suspects who are under the influence of drugs handcuffed at all times because they can be unpredictable, going almost instantaneously from compliant to non-compliant, may have super-human strength and may not respond to normal control techniques. He said that under such circumstances an officer can 'find themselves in a fight for their life in a heartbeat'. Given Floyd's level of resistance, Brodd said that in his view the officers could have justifiably used higher levels of force than they did in their efforts to get him into the back of the squad. He was the second witness to express this view. The state's use of force expert Sgt Stiger said that at that stage he thought they could have reached for their tazers... the jury was shown new footage of Floyd's friends watching his fatal arrest outside the Cup Foods store on May 25, 2020. The video was recorded by a body-camera worn by Minneapolis Park Police Officer Peter Chang, who arrived on the scene after fellow officers had already confronted Floyd. It showed for the first time the reaction of Floyd's friends Morries Hall and Shawanda Hill, who were both in the car with him that day. Chang kept and eye on Hall and Hill as they watched officers struggle to get Floyd into a squad car from across the street. Hill can be clearly heard saying: 'Damn he still won't get into the car. Just sit down man!...they got to fight him.' Hall responds: 'That's fing resistance man.'... Minneapolis Police Department Medical Support Coordinator Nicole MacKenzie made her second appearance on the stand directly before the court broke for lunch. When appearing as a state witness last week, MacKenzie gave her opinion that treating a person under the eyes of a crowd, hostile or otherwise, 'is incredibly difficult'. She also told the court about 'excited delirium', saying that it could give a person, 'super-human' strength... a potential gap in prosecutors' case appeared Friday when Hennepin County's chief medical examiner, Dr Andrew Baker, stated that he did not find the cause of death to be asphyxia or low oxygen levels and that he did not believe that Chauvin's knee was on Floyd's neck for 'the majority' of the time. In a massive departure from the prosecution's contention, Baker said: 'In my impression from the video it would appear that Mr. Chauvin's knee was primarily on the back, on the side or the area in between Mr. Floyd's neck (and back).' The medical examiner told the court that Floyd died because being pinned down on the ground with his neck compressed was, 'just more than he could take,' given his severe underlying heart disease. Nelson was at pains to challenge the medical experts findings that the drug amounts detected in Floyd either were small or that people had survived significantly higher levels. He also frequently framed questions to include the phrase 'illicit drugs', pointed out there's no legal reason for a person to have methamphetamine in their system, and asked one witness whether he agreed that the number of deaths of people mixing meth and fentanyl had risen. The drug issue came to the forefront of the case when the prosecution called its first 'spark of life' witness, Floyd's girlfriend Courteney Ross. Ross testified that both she and Floyd were hooked on opioids and fought hard to get clean together, but that Floyd slipped back into the habit around two months before his death. The second 'spark of life' witness, Floyd's younger brother Philonise Floyd, took the stand on Monday and described the man he knew as a son, a sibling and a father. Philonise broke down in tears as the jury was shown photos of Floyd in various stages of his life"
Liberals mock those who point out how criminal behavior leads to thugs getting shot, yet they gush about tributes to the same thugs (which is totally irrelevant to whether police use of force was unjustified)
Derek Chauvin defense begins case with video of 2019 arrest - "defense attorney Eric Nelson called a now-retired Minneapolis police officer and asked him to describe his interaction with Floyd on May 6, 2019 — a move aimed at showing Floyd’s evasive behavior and compare his actions to what transpired in May 2020."
Chauvin defense argues George Floyd swallowed drugs as police approached. - "The Chauvin defense contends that Floyd overdosed after hurriedly ingesting the pills he had on him when he was approached by Chauvin and other officers on May 25th because he had a history of doing just that. The defense is simultaneously trying to sow doubt about different technical aspects of the arrest that resulted in Chauvin kneeling on Floyd for more than nine minutes. The defense asserts: Chauvin was, in fact, following police procedure during the arrest and that his use of force was appropriate because it was prolonged by a hostile crowd surrounding the scene; that Chauvin could have reasonably believed Floyd was not in respiratory distress because he was able to speak; and that it’s not totally clear Chauvin actually did apply pressure to Floyd’s neck for the full nine-and-a-half minutes, rather that a closer reading of the footage indicates neck constriction was sporadic during the arrest. Floyd’s drug use, and thus the potential to argue that he overdosed, was at the heart of the testimony of McKenzie Anderson, a forensic scientist who processed the squad car that Floyd was briefly held in the night he died. A second search of the vehicle, requested by Chauvin’s defense lawyers in January, eight months after Floyd’s death, turned up fragments of pills that Anderson had not found in the initial search the night of Floyd’s death. The pills had DNA on them that matched Floyd’s. A toxicology report done after Floyd’s death found there was methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system, both of which tests showed were in the recovered pills"
Defense Attorney Predicts Chauvin Will Be Acquitted After Jurors Learn George Floyd Died Of Fentanyl Overdose - "Woodson began by noting that, in a last minute move, the prosecution is now charging Chauvin with third degree murder. They brought back the third degree murder charge because the second degree was imploding,” said Woodson. “It’s a Hail Mary, they knew that the case wasn’t supporting the facts.”... “It’s interesting because if you look at Minneapolis and their manual, he was following textbook, exactly how they’re trained,” said Woodson. Peters, who spent years apprehending dangerous fugitives in partnership with law enforcement in Minneapolis, elaborated on the tactics used by Chauvin. “This is part of Minneapolis procedures, use of force training, it’s in their policy. This is a lateral neck restraint, commonly referred to as an LNR, LVNR, or VNR, a lateral vascular neck restraint, which in this case was more of just a straight vascular neck restraint,” Peters explained. “It restricts blood flow to the brain, but does not commonly result in death. As a matter of fact, there are no cases where it’s proven that this restraint has caused any death.”... Woodson went on to suggest that the Minneapolis prosecutors likely felt political pressure from the media and local elected officials to “over charge” in the case, regardless of the reality of Floyd’s death. “With these very high profile cases, where you see, a lot of times the prosecution will over charge, because they have to politically,” said Woodson. “This whole country changed because of, supposedly, because of George Floyd. The whole country.” “We’ve gone through this whole metamorphosis now, where we’re embroiled in the French Revolution.” Woodson elaborated, “If the premise of this, ie the murder of George Floyd, isn’t a murder, and it is an actual overdose, then you’ve got that whole narrative now flipped, and we’ve got to question, now, the last year.”"
Alternate juror on Chauvin trial was 'concerned about people' coming to her house 'if they were not happy with the verdict' - "Lisa Christensen, a resident of the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, took to an interview on Thursday to discuss her role as an alternate juror in the trial of Derek Chauvin, as well as her general thoughts on the trial and verdict... she did not want Minneapolis "to go through rioting and destruction again.""
Clearly an unbiased verdict
REVEALED: Chauvin juror who promised judge impartiality now says people should join juries ‘to spark some change', wore BLM shirt in 2020 - "A juror on the Derek Chauvin trial who told the court that he had no prior knowledge of the George Floyd civil case was photographed last August wearing a shirt that read “Get your knee off our necks” and “BLM.” He stated last week that he saw jury duty as a means to “spark some change.” Juror #52, now identified as Brandon Mitchell, reportedly told Judge Cahill on March 15 that he had no prior knowledge of the case prior to being summoned for jury duty... In a Facebook post dated August 31, 2020, Brandon Mitchell was pictured (seen below) wearing a shirt with the words “Get your knee off our necks” and “BLM,” which is short for Black Lives Matter. This would directly contradict his claim that he had no prior knowledge of the case."
Photo of Chauvin juror wearing BLM T-shirt at march raises doubts over impartiality, experts say - "Mitchell said he responded “no” to the question if he, or anyone close to him, had ever participated in protests about police use of force or police brutality."
Liberals melt down on social media after mainstream media reports on Chauvin juror's bias - "Author David Steele was among those who didn't think Mitchell's lack of impartiality was a concern. The account of a self-described life-long Democrat had words for WaPo that they basically shouldn't have published the story at all. Hundreds of comments flooded in saying that Mitchell's apparent bias was "truth." Others seemed to think that a fair trial is not as important as other concerns, such as saying that calling out a juror's bias is actually white supremacist. The Washington Post picked up a story from conservative press that a juror in the Derek Chauvin trial likely had a previous bias toward ruling in the state's favor, and triggered liberals couldn't hold back their horror. Advertisement Author David Steele was among those who didn't think Mitchell's lack of impartiality was a concern. The account of a self-described life-long Democrat had words for WaPo that they basically shouldn't have published the story at all. Hundreds of comments flooded in saying that Mitchell's apparent bias was "truth." Others seemed to think that a fair trial is not as important as other concerns, such as saying that calling out a juror's bias is actually white supremacist. Some seemed to think that the very notion that a person could be impartial was just silly anyway, so it hardly matters if a juror says they are impartial or not. Still others seemed to believe that the evidence was do damning a fair trial wasn't in order in the first place."
3 women arrested after pig's blood strewn on Chauvin defense witness old home - "Three women have been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the one-time Northern California home of a former police officer who testified on behalf of the officer convicted of killing George Floyd by splashing pig blood on it and leaving a pig’s head near the front porch. Rowan Dalbey, 20, Kristen Aumoithe, 34, and Amber Lucas, 35, all of Santa Rosa, were arrested Tuesday on felony vandalism and conspiracy charges... After targeting home on April 17, the women also allegedly smeared pig blood on a large hand statue in Santa Rosa Plaza and left a picture of a pig reading "Oink Oink."... The home in the city north of San Francisco once belonged to Barry Brodd, a retired police officer who was on the stand in the murder trial against former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin."
I'm sure the jurors felt safe too
Corporate America Virtue Signaling After Chauvin Murder Conviction
Nolte: Biden and Waters Deliberately Sought Mistrial in Derek Chauvin Case - "After it became obvious former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin would be convicted of murdering George Floyd, Democrats Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and His Fraudulency Joe Biden timed their respective outbursts hoping there would be a mistrial, which would usher in a new wave of Black Lives Matter riots. Just as the case was about to go to the jury, Waters stood at Ground Zero — Brooklyn Center, Minnesota — and said there must be more intense violence — even more intense than the endless riots we saw last year after Floyd’s murder — if Chauvin was not convicted of first-degree murder. Chauvin was not even charged with first-degree murder. Then, a few days later, while the jury was deliberating, His Fraudulency used the bully pulpit of the presidency to demand a guilty verdict... You see, the worst thing that can happen to the racial arsonists that have captured the Democrat Party is the system working, and Biden, Waters, and the vile corporate media that palace guard both, knew that if Chauvin was convicted it would be a shining example of the system actually working…. So they attempted to sabotage the system, to rig the trial, to deliberately behave in such an irresponsible and outrageous way a mistrial would be declared. Naturally, a mistrial would “prove” the system is rigged and justify an unholy wave of left-wing political terrorism across every Democrat-run city in the country. Sadly, this is still not over… Thanks to Biden and Waters, Chauvin’s convictions might very well be overturned on appeal and a new trial ordered. If that happens, the left-wing terrorists in Black Lives Matter and Antifa will burn down Blue City after Blue City, while monsters like Biden, Waters, and the corporate media demagogue the effect of their own wicked handiwork to death... The only good news in all this is that the only power Democrats and the corporate media have left is to burn down their own Deep Blue neighborhoods, which makes for pretty good TV out here in Rural MAGA Land — where the air and water are clean, where people of all races live together in harmony, where we all own guns and there’s no gun violence crisis or racial tensions. If there’s a long, hot summer in America, it will only be in those Democrat-run cities getting exactly what they voted for."
