The prosecution said in oral argument that George Floyd “asked for help with his last breath, but Derek Chauvin paid him no attention.”

The official Derek Chauvin “must have known” that he was taking George Floyd’s life when the African-American man cried over and over again that he couldn’t breathe and ultimately remained silent, the prosecutor told jurors on Monday as closing arguments began in the Chauvin murder trial. .

“Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What they saw, they saw”said the prosecutor Steve schleicher, referring to the video of Floyd pinned to the sidewalk with Chauvin’s knee against his neck last May for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, as passers-by shouted at the white officer to stop.

Final discussions started with Minneapolis, as the city is on the brink of a repeat of the violence that erupted in the city and the United States last spring following Floyd’s death.

The defense argues that Floyd, 46, died of underlying heart disease and his illegal use of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

By reading portions of the viewer video and other images while presenting your case, Schleicher dismissed some of the defense theories as “absurd”, saying that Chauvin’s pressure on Floyd killed him by restricting his breathing.

He rejected the drug overdose argument, the argument that the police were distracted by what they saw as hostile spectators, the notion that Floyd had “superhuman” strength due to a state of agitation known as excited delirium, and the suggestion that Floyd was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning from an automatic exhaust.

The prosecutor sarcastically brought up the idea that it was heart disease that killed Floyd as a “Incredible coincidence”.

“Is that common sense or is it silly?” Schleicher asked the jury.

Schleicher described how Chauvin ignored Floyd’s screams that he couldn’t breathe and continued to kneel over Floyd after he stopped breathing and had no pulse, even after the ambulance arrived.

“He called for help on his last breath, but the officer did not help. Did not take training, did not follow service rules on the use of force, did not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation“, He explained.

Floyd era “One man, lying on the sidewalk, in a hurry, screaming desperately. An adult man crying for his mother. A human being, ”said Schleicher. He said chauvinist “She heard him, but he just didn’t pay attention to her.”

Chauvin was “On him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and he had to know», Dijo Schleicher. “I had to know.”

The prosecutor said that Floyd “was not a threat to anyone”.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He wasn’t trying to do anything to anyone. Dealing with George Floyd that day didn’t require an ounce of courage. And none were shown that day. No courage was needed, ”said Schleicher. “All it took was a little compassion and nothing was shown that day.”

EChauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, the defense’s final argument began later today.

Chauvinist, wearing a light gray suit with a blue shirt and a blue tie, focused on taking notes during oral argument, and only looked up from time to time from his notebook. An unidentified woman occupied the only seat reserved in the pandemic-spaced courtroom for a supporter of Chauvin.

Floyd’s brother, Philonise, represented the family in court, as he often did during the trial.

Schleicher quickly got to the heart of the matter whether Chauvin’s actions were those of a reasonable agent in similar circumstances, saying that a reasonable officer with Chauvin’s training and experience should have known that the handcuffed Floyd posed no risk to officers.

He said Floyd, who was arrested on suspicion of slipping a fake $ 20 bill into a packet of cigarettes at a local market, He was terrified of being placed in the small backseat of the patrol car when he got into trouble with the officers. The prosecutor released a video of Floyd being pulled from the car and forced to the ground, noticing that he was on his knees and said thank you.

“A reasonable officer should have recognized that Floyd was not trying to escape. … The problem was the back of the car. Like George Floyd tried to explain it over and over again, ”the prosecutor said.

He also noticed that Chauvin had to use his training to provide Floyd with medical care, but he ignored passers-by, refused help from an off-duty fire department paramedic, and declined a suggestion from another officer to put Floyd aside.

Several witnesses, including one from the defense, said that Floyd could have lived if he had received CPR as soon as he lost his pulse.

“He could have heard passers-by. He could have listened to his fellow officers. You could have listened to your own training. He just didn’t do it, ”Schleicher said, adding that even a 9-year-old spectator knew it was dangerous.

“Conscious indifference, indifference. Do you want to know what indifference is and what it looks like? “, Schleicher asked before reading a video of Chauvin answering, “Aha” several times as Floyd screams.

The prosecution took about an hour and 45 minutes to present their case, and Schleicher ended their argument by saying: “It wasn’t surveillance. It was murder. The defendant is guilty of all three counts. All those. And there is no excuse “.

The jury will deliberate in a city center courtyard surrounded by concrete barriers and barbed wire, in a city Anxiety sharply heightened by members of the National Guard and days after new outrage erupted over police murder of 20-year-old black man in a nearby suburb. Some companies have lined their windows with plywood.

Some protesters gathered outside the courthouse on Monday as light snowflakes blew in the wind. “No breathing. There is no pulse. 3 1/2 minutes. Chauvin didn’t get up / didn’t get up “Said the sign of a protester.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with second degree murder, third degree murder and second degree murder. All three counts compel the jury to conclude that Chauvin’s actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death, and that his use of force was unreasonable.

To convict Chauvin of second degree murder, prosecutors don’t have to prove Chauvin intended to harm FloydHe simply applied force on purpose, which caused damage.

Second degree intentional murder can lead to up to 40 years in prison, third degree murder 25 years and second degree murder 10 years. Sentencing directives take much less time, including 12 and a half years for each murder.

(With information from AFP and AP)

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