MINNEAPOLIS\u00a0\u2014 After calling seven witnesses over the course of two\u00a0days, the defense in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin\u00a0rested its case Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
Chauvin did not testify. He is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020.<\/p>\n
The defense, led by attorney Eric Nelson,\u00a0called on current and\u00a0former police officers, a retired paramedic, an eyewitness, a\u00a0use-of-force expert, an officer who leads the department’s emergency medical response training and a former medical examiner in an attempt to prove that Chauvin’s use of force was reasonable and Floyd died because of his health issues and drug use.<\/p>\n
Key testimony for the defense came from expert witness Barry Brodd, who has taught use-of-force to officers in California for 35 years. Brodd was the only witness in the trial to say Chauvin’s use of force was “justified” and that the prone restraint “doesn’t hurt.” That contradicted testimony from prosecution witness that the restraint is potentially lethal.<\/p>\n
“I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified, acting with reasonableness,” Brodd\u00a0said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Another important moment came during the daylong testimony Wednesday of Dr. David Fowler, a\u00a0retired forensic pathologist and\u00a0former head of the medical examiner’s office in Maryland. He told jurors the manner of Floyd’s death was “undetermined,” contrary to prosecution witnesses who labeled the death a homicide.<\/p>\n
Fowler said he believed the plaque built\u00a0up within Floyd’s arteries\u00a0and his hypertensive heart disease were\u00a0the direct cause of death, saying Floyd had a “sudden cardiac arrhythmia”\u00a0due to those heart issues while being restrained and subdued by police.<\/p>\n
The prosecution rested its case Tuesday morning after 11 days, 38 witnesses and dozens of video clips. Prosecutors called to the stand eyewitnesses, Minneapolis police officers and paramedics, law enforcement experts and a range of medical experts \u2013 including current and former medical examiners \u2013 in a bid to prove Floyd died because Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.<\/p>\n
Eric Nelson isn’t working alone: <\/strong>A police legal fund is backing him up with a dozen lawyers and $1 million<\/span><\/p>\n Several Minneapolis police officials, including the police chief\u00a0and\u00a0department trainers, and national use-of-force experts\u00a0called by the prosecution\u00a0told jurors\u00a0Chauvin’s actions were not justified.<\/p>\n But on Tuesday, they heard a different take: “I felt that Officer Chauvin’s interactions with Mr. Floyd were following his training, following current practices in policing, and objectively reasonable,” Brodd said.<\/p>\n He said the level of force Chauvin and other\u00a0officers used to place Floyd on the ground was also “objectively reasonable,” though he added: “I don’t consider a prone control as a use of force.” <\/p>\n However, Brodd acknowledged under cross-examination by prosecutor Steve Schleicher that the Minneapolis Police Department trains officers to move suspects from the prone position to a side recovery position as soon as possible to avoid potential breathing difficulties.<\/p>\n Schleicher’s questioning of Brodd enabled the prosecution to replay\u00a0audio and video of Floyd struggling and saying he could not breathe. Prompted by Schleicher, Brodd acknowledged Floyd’s cries “could” mean he faced a potential threat of positional asphyxia.<\/p>\n In addition to Floyd’s underlying heart issues, Fowler said several other conditions contributed to his death.<\/p>\n He listed Floyd’s fentanyl and methamphetamine ingestion, what other experts have called an “incidental” abnormal cell growth in his pelvic area, and exposure to vehicle exhaust that may have led to carbon monoxide poisoning \u2014 something that\u00a0has not been raised by any expert in the trial.<\/p>\n Several witnesses for the prosecution have testified that Floyd’s death was a homicide caused by\u00a0low oxygen \u2013 also called asphyxia \u2013 due to being restrained by law enforcement officers. The chief medical examiner for Hennepin County, who conducted an autopsy on Floyd, was\u00a0a witness for the state but became a key defense witness when he\u00a0highlighted the role that Floyd’s underlying health issues and drug use may have played in his death.<\/p>\n Dr. Andrew Baker told Nelson he included heart disease, a history of hypertension and the drugs in Floyd’s system on the death certificate because they contributed to\u00a0Floyd’s death.<\/p>\n “He experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest in the context of law enforcement, subdual\u00a0restraint, compression,” Baker said. “It was the stress of that interaction that tipped him over the edge, given his underlying heart disease and its toxicology status.”<\/p>\n While Baker and others categorized Floyd’s death as a homicide, Fowler said he would categorize it as “undetermined” because there were “so many conflicting mechanisms of death.”<\/p>\n During cross-examination by prosecutor\u00a0Jerry Blackwell,\u00a0Fowler conceded that while Floyd was officially pronounced dead at a hospital, he was dead “long, long before that.” He agreed that Floyd should have been given immediate medical attention when he went into cardiac arrest. “Immediate medical attention for a person who has gone into cardiac arrest\u00a0may well reverse that process,”\u00a0Fowler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asked by Blackwell, Fowler said there\u2019s no reference in Floyd\u2019s records of a blood test for carbon monoxide.<\/p>\n Jurors appeared to be taking notes throughout the cross-examination. <\/p>\n The first witnesses for the defense told jurors about Floyd’s 2019 drug-related arrest.<\/p>\n The testimony of retired Minneapolis police officer Scott Creighton allowed the defense to show Floyd\u2019s behavior during a police stop of a car in which he was a passenger. Nelson introduced video from Creighton’s body camera that showed Floyd initially resisting the officer’s\u00a0commands.<\/p>\n Responding to cross-examination\u00a0by prosecutor Erin Eldridge, Creighton said Floyd seemed incoherent. Jurors watched attentively and took notes for much of Creighton\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n Michelle Moseng, a retired Hennepin County Medical Center paramedic, said she spoke to Floyd after he was taken into custody that day. Her testimony was meant to show the effect that drug use may have had on Floyd.<\/p>\n “It was quite hard to assess him. He was confused,” Moseng said of the incident. Moseng said she took Floyd’s vital signs and found he had high blood pressure. Based on that reading\u00a0and other medical issues, she said he needed to go to the hospital. It took some time to convince Floyd of that, she said.<\/p>\n Eldridge\u2019s questions led Moseng to agree that while Floyd’s blood pressure had been high, other vital signs were normal.<\/p>\n Peter Chang, an officer with the Minneapolis Park Police, told jurors he came to assist officers after hearing a radio call for backup. His testimony was designed to show his concern about the safety of the officers who struggled with Floyd as bystanders criticized them.<\/p>\n The group was “very aggressive” toward the officers, Chang said.<\/p>\n Nelson played video from Chang’s body camera so Chang could testify about what he saw. Chang said a crowd developed as the officers’ struggle with Floyd escalated.<\/p>\n Saying he “was concerned for the officers’ safety, too,” Chang testified that he split his attention between watching the crowd and watching the car with the two people who had been with Floyd. Video from Chang’s body camera showed that the others were Shawanda Hill, a former romantic interest of Floyd, and Morries Hall.<\/p>\n The judge ruled Wednesday that Hall had a Fifth Amendment right not to testify because answering even narrowly focused\u00a0questions could expose him to criminal charges.<\/p>\n Shawanda Hill testified she ran into Floyd at the Cup Foods store where he was suspected of passing a phony $20 bill. She said Floyd was “happy, normal, talking, alert” in the store.<\/p>\n Hill said she got into a car with Floyd and he suddenly fell asleep. He was sleeping when two employees came to the car about the alleged fake bill, and they had a hard time waking him, Hill testified.<\/p>\n “I tried a couple of times (to awaken Floyd), but then I let it go for a minute, because I was on the phone,” Hill testified. She said Floyd woke up when police officers approached the car.<\/p>\n Hill\u2019s testimony appeared to support defense arguments that Floyd was sleepy because he had taken non-prescription pills before police confronted him.<\/p>\nJury heard ‘Derek Chauvin was justified’ for the first time<\/h2>\n
Defense forensic pathologist says cause of death was ‘undetermined’<\/h2>\n
Witnesses testified\u00a0about\u00a0Floyd’s 2019 arrest and\u00a0drug use<\/h2>\n
Park police officer says crowd was ‘very aggressive’<\/h2>\n
Floyd’s ex-girlfriend says she had a hard time waking him up in car<\/h2>\n