On Tuesday, April 20, the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd came to an end. The conviction came in at about 5–10 PM EST, and the verdict was that Chauvin was guilty of all crimes. The three charges he was facing were second degree murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter. While waiting for his sentence, Chauvin is being kept in prison, as bail was revoked. Since the trial has now come to a close, let’s look at some of the most important and notable moments from the trial as a little bit of an overall recap.
The first notable part of the trial came right at the beginning on day one. In his opening statement, prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell played the 9 minute, 29 second video of Floyd’s death. This video was shown to act as clear and obvious proof that Chauvin used excessive force, as the video showed his knee on Floyd’s neck. The defense began their case by saying that it was drugs and heart disease that caused Floyd’s death and that Chauvin was not responsible. This was the argument that the defense stuck with all throughout the trial.
On day 2 of the trial, prosecution called 17-year-old Darnella Frazier to the stand. She had recorded the entire event of Floyd’s death on her phone, and it was one of the videos that went viral. During her testimony, she spoke to the jury about how she sees Floyd every night, and apologizes to him for not being able to do more to help. She said that he was clearly suffering, and even said that he seemed to know that he was going to die. She was in tears throughout her testimony.
Now we move to day 4, where Courtney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend until the day he died, took the stand. She spoke of her and Floyd’s relationship, which had started back in 2017. She talked about how Floyd had helped her find faith in God at a time when she was losing it all, and how they tried to spend as much time together as possible while they were dating. She also talked about their struggle with opioid addiction. She said that there were times when both of them were using opioids, times when only one of them was using them, and then there were times when they were both completely clean. It was always a fight, but they worked through their addiction the best they could. During this part of her testimony, she noted that Floyd had started to act differently approximately two weeks before the date of his death. This led her to believe that he was using drugs again. She was in tears throughout her testimony as well.
On day 6, the jury heard from the chief of police in Minneapolis, Medaria Arradondo, who said that Chauvin’s actions completely went against the policies of their police department. He made it clear that every officer is expected to know the correct methods for de-escalation, and that Chauvin completely stepped over the line. In his testimony Arradondo said, “There is an initial reasonableness in trying to get him under control in the first few seconds, but once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back — that in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy, is not part of our training and is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.”
The next thing to note comes from day 9. Pulmonologist Dr. Martin Tobin gave his analysis as to why Floyd stopped breathing and ultimately died. His testimony centered on a few different points, but the main point was that Floyd’s death was due to a lack of oxygen. During this testimony, Tobin stated that by estimation, it is likely that about 91.5 pounds of Chauvin’s body and gear weight was pressing down on Floyd’s neck. Beyond that, he stated that being in the prone position, being handcuffed, and having a knee on his neck and back likely caused his body to overwork itself and eventually led to a lack of oxygen. This testimony took hours, but the jury seemed to hold onto every single word.
The next day, there was testimony from Dr. Andrew Baker, who was the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Floyd’s body. In his report, as well as in his testimony, Baker stated that while heart disease and drugs likely did play a role in Floyd’s death, it was Chauvin’s knee on his neck that actually caused him to die. Heart disease and drugs were officially listed as contributors in Baker’s report. The defense tried to focus on the drugs in Floyd’s system during the cross-examination, however, Baker did not waver in his analysis.
On day 12 of the trial, and on the same day the prosecution rested its case, the defense called on Barry Brodd, a use of force expert, to testify on behalf of Chauvin. Brodd stated that Chauvin was “justified” and acted with “reasonable objectiveness.” He would go on to say that officers are allowed to take the level of force up to the next level when experiencing resistance. After his testimony, Brodd’s former home was vandalized.
The defense also called on forensic pathologist David Fowler to testify. In his testimony, Fowler stated that the cause of Floyd’s death is unclear. He said that the cause of death was likely drugs, heart disease, and even possibly carbon monoxide poisoning since they were near the exhaust pipe of the during the incident. The prosecution went on to question this theory, asking if Fowler had seen carbon monoxide poisoning on the autopsy report or whether he could even tell if the car was even on. Fowler’s response to both of these questions was no. Fowler is facing a civil suit in Maryland for allegedly covering up the cause of death of a family’s son for a similar reason as Chauvin.
And that brings us to the present. Derek Chauvin has been convicted on all charges and currently waits in prison for sentencing. The maximum amount of time he could face is 40 years. For updates on that and anything else related to the trial, make sure to follow us here and on the Blind Boys Politics podcast.
