The trial of the policeman who killed George Floyd begins: keys to the process

Nine months after the death of African American George Floyd, which sparked huge protests against the cluster in the United States, the trial of the white policeman accused of the murder begins on Monday.

Jury selection begins in Minneapolis in the case against Derek Chauvin, a former Minnesota Police Department (MPD) officer who was filmed resting his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as the inmate, who was handcuffed, struggled to breathe.

Thousands of people marched through the northern city on Sunday behind a white coffin covered with red roses to demand “justice”.

The diverse crowd was mostly silent, only broken to shout “If there is no justice, there is no peace!“. A reproduced banner Floyd’s last words: “I can’t breathe.”

The shocking images of the death of Floyd, 46, on May 25, sparked a wave of “Black Lives Matter” protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the United States and in capitals around the world.

The Chauvin case promises to be extraordinary in many ways: will feature star lawyers, take place under strict security measures and be broadcast live.

The Minnesota state attorney general’s office summoned Neal Katyal, a former acting attorney general who argued in the Supreme Court, to assist in the prosecution. Katyal described the Chauvin trial as a “historic criminal case, one of the most important in the history” of the United States.

Ashley Heiberger, a former officer who now works as a police practice advisor, said that “the fact that a police officer has been criminally charged with the abuse of force is in itself an outlier.”

“It’s even rarer for them to be convicted“He added.” Juries tend to want to give the police the benefit of the doubt. “However, the circumstances surrounding the 44-year-old Chauvin case are so worrying that” no police or police organization is came to defend their action, “he said.

Three other officers involved in Floyd’s arrest, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, face lesser charges and will be tried separately.. All four people involved in the case were fired by the Minneapolis Police Department.

Chauvin, who was 19 in the force, was released on bail in the fall and is expected to plead not guilty to the charges of murder and manslaughter. “He acted in accordance with MPD policy, training and duties as a certified Minnesota state officer,” said his attorney, Eric Nelson. “He did exactly what he was trained to do,” he added.

According to Nelson, Floyd died of an overdose of fentanyl. An autopsy found traces of the drug on Floyd’s body, but clarified that the cause of death was “neck compression”.

Ben Crump, an attorney representing the Floyd family, said on Saturday that he expected the defense team to question Floyd about his character. “They will try to make people forget what they are seeing on the video,” he said.

It will take a unanimous decision of the 12 jurors to put Chauvin behind bars.

If the policeman is not convicted, a new wave of protests against racism is likely. Authorities mobilized thousands of police and National Guard members to provide security during the trial. The Hennepin County courthouse, where the trial is taking place, looks like an armed camp surrounded by concrete barriers and barbed wire.

Key players in the trial

The trial will begin at 8 a.m. (14 GMT) on Monday with jury selection, a delicate process given the wide publicity surrounding the case.

Candidate jurors received a 15-page questionnaire. “How favorable or unfavorable are you about Black Lives Matter?” Is one of the questions. Have you ever seen a video of the death of George Floyd? If so, how many times? ““ Did you or a relative take part in any of the demonstrations or marches against police brutality? ”They are also included in the questionnaire.

Prosecutors are expected to present testimony from a black woman who claims Chauvin used excessive force against her in 2017 and also that the teenager who filmed Floyd’s death will be called to the stand. A decision is not expected before the end of April.

COVID-19, cameras and security

The Chauvin trial, one of the most high-profile criminal cases in Minnesota history, takes place during a global pandemic that has had a dramatic impact. Precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 limited courtroom space, prompting the judge to try Chauvin in front of three other dismissed officers accused of aiding and abetting.

Yes as the pandemic virtually eliminated the possibility for the public to sit in the courtroom, the judge authorized the live broadcast of the trial, something rare in a condition that does not generally allow the presence of cameras in court.

City, county and state officials are bracing for any kind of backlash the testimony or trial verdict might elicit. The court is surrounded by barbed wire, razors and concrete barriers, and strict security measures have been put in place to protect the trial. City and state leaders want to prevent a repeat of last year’s riots, which destroyed dozens of businesses and a police station.

The judge

Peter Cahill, by the conando de Hennepin, is respected and has a reputation for being a fair and frank judge. She started working in the county public defender’s office in 1984 and worked for 10 years as a prosecutor, serving as senior advisor to U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar when she was the county chief prosecutor.

Cahill has been a judge since 2007 and chief justice. He is known to be decisive and direct. He remained firm in his decision to allow video cameras at trial over state objections, and to open the trial in March despite concerns from prosecutors about the pandemic. He also refused to reinstate a third degree murder charge, sending prosecutors to the Court of Appeal – which on Friday ruled it must reconsider the decision – and dismissed defense requests to move the trial out of the way. Hennepin County.

The prosecutor’s office

A few days after Floyd’s death, the Governor of Minnesota announced that Attorney General Keith Ellison is reportedly handling the prosecution of the case. The county attorney’s office is still part of the case, but the unusual move was a victory for local civil rights advocates who said former Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman lacked the confidence of the black community.

Ellison, the state’s first African-American attorney general, previously served in Congress and worked as a defense attorney.

His team of prosecutors includes Matthew Frank, a senior lawyer in Ellison’s office who recently won a guilty plea in the case of Lois Riess, a woman from Minnesota who was sentenced to life without parole for killing her husband in 2018. Riess rose to fame after running away from her husband. state, killed a woman in Florida and assumed her identity before being captured. Also on board: Jerry Blackwell, who last year obtained a posthumous pardon for a black man wrongly convicted of rape before the notorious lynchings of Duluth in 1920; and Steven Schleicher, a former federal prosecutor who led the prosecution of the man who kidnapped and killed Jacob Wetterling in 1989.

Defense

Chauvin, 44, joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 2001, making him the most senior of the four officers involved in Floyd’s arrest. He was fired shortly after video of Floyd’s arrest appeared the next day. He was charged a few days later and transferred to a state prison for security reasons. In October, he posted a million dollar bond and was allowed to live out of state for security reasons.

His lawyer, Eric Nelson, is one of the few lawyers in Minnesota who often represents police officers. One of his biggest cases was that of Amy Senser, the wife of former close Minnesota Vikings member Joe Senser, who was convicted of the 2011 murder of a fugitive Minneapolis boss. Nelson argued that Senser should be sentenced to probation, but a judge gave her 41 months in prison.

Nelson has also dealt with murder cases. He helped win an acquittal for a Minnesota man who was charged with shooting his unarmed neighbor in 2017. He also secured an acquittal for a Wisconsin man who said he feared for his safety when he fatally stabbed a man who confronted him in 2015 Nelson did not say whether Chauvin will testify at his trial, but many legal observers predict that Chauvin will take the stand.

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