George Floyd Case Now In Hands of Jury

The jury in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd by pinning his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds started deliberating Monday evening.

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There are six white jurors and six Black or multiracial members on the panel. Over the three weeks of testimony, 45 witnesses were called and some gave tearful accounts of that day outside the Minneapolis corner store where they watched Floyd die as Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on neck of a handcuffed Floyd.

The medical examiner who performed the autopsy ruled Floyd’s death a homicide and testified that heart disease and drugs played a role. But, Dr. Andrew Baker said it was the interaction with police that caused Floyd’s death.

“The law enforcement subdual restraint and the neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions,” Baker said.

On Floyd’s death certificate, Baker listed the drugs and heart ailments as contributing factors but not causes. Defense attorneys had hoped to highlight Floyd’s drug use as the reason for his death.

The former county medical examiner who trained Baker testified that Floyd died from asphyxia or low oxygen 

Forensic pathology expert, Dr. Lindsey Thomas, told jurors, “The activities of the law enforcement officers resulted in Mr. Floyd’s death.” 

In his closing arguments, defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that Chauvin was acting as a “reasonable police officer.” 

But the prosecution challenged that assertion, arguing that Chauvin was indifferent to pleas from Floyd and bystanders. A video clip shows Chauvin saying, “Uh-huh,’ in response to concern that Floyd was in distress. Prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell said, “You were told — for example — that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big … The truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.”

Image Credits: Courtesy: Zoe Schaefer.