

They will also argue that Floyd refused to follow officers’ orders from the moment they encountered him in his vehicle. They will claim that Floyd injured his own nose (which was bleeding) and body as a result of a struggle with officers in the backseat of a squad car. Defense attorneys have already made note of Floyd’s weight and height, in comparison with Chauvin’s weight and height. The defense team will attempt to put Floyd on trial and argue that he is responsible for his own death. Prosecutors will use medical testimony in an attempt to show that even with drugs in Floyd’s system, and his pre-existing medical conditions, the cause of his death was Chauvin’s knee on his neck.ĭefense attorneys will attempt to use medical evidence to infer that Floyd’s consumption of fentanyl and other alleged substances, coupled with an underlying heart issue, and a (bogus) medical condition called “excited delirium” are responsible for Floyd’s death, and not Chauvin’s knee. It is likely that multiple doctors will testify during the trial, as expert witnesses. The crowd of bystanders exercised a great deal of restraint by trying to reason with the officers, rather than getting physical.īoth the prosecution team and the defense alluded to the fact that there will likely be dueling medical expert testimony regarding the exact cause of death of Floyd. Were it not for the bystander video the world might not know what really happened to Floyd. It is important to keep in mind that bystanders were attempting to stop the police from murdering a Black man in broad daylight. Two bystanders testified about what they witnessed and/or documented regarding Chauvin and the other three officers’ conduct who aided and abetted Chauvin. Defense counsel claimed that the behavior of the bystanders diverted the attention of the officers away from Floyd. Floyd’s neck for a grueling 9 minutes and 29 seconds.ĭuring opening statements, Chauvin’s defense team attempted to cast blame on bystanders who were present during the deadly encounter claiming that the crowd grew increasingly large and angry, and called officers bad names. The Chief will likely testify that Chauvin did not act in accordance with departmental training or protocols when he pressed his knee into Mr.

The prosecution team has made clear that they plan to refute Chauvin’s assertion by calling Minneapolis Police Chief Arradondo to the stand. In other words, his defense lawyers will argue that he was trained to subdue criminal suspects using the dangerous technique that he used on Floyd. This was torture, as evidenced by the smug look on Chauvin’s face at the time and the fact that he even appeared to bounce on Floyd’s neck as bystanders pleaded with him to release Floyd.Ĭhauvin’s defense team plans to present evidence that he acted within the scope of the training that he received through the Minneapolis Police Department. This was not a split-second decision on Chauvin’s part. During opening statements of the Derek Chauvin murder trial, the state prosecution team made clear that Chauvin actually kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. It was previously believed that Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
