The prosecution rests, the defense launches the case

The defense launched its case on Tuesday in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the licensed Minneapolis cop accused of the death of George Floyd.

Prosecutors closed their case Tuesday morning after more than two weeks of testimony, including witnesses, medical experts, use of force experts and police.

The first witness called by defense attorney Eric Nelson was a retired Minneapolis officer who arrested Floyd in 2019.

Scott Creighton said he pulled out his gun when Floyd didn’t want to show him his hands. In the body camera video played in court, Creighton raises his voice and uses a curse as he orders Floyd, a passenger in a car he has stopped, to show him his hands. Floyd can be heard asking the officer not to shoot him.

“I’m not going to shoot you if you put your hands on the dash, this is the last time I’m going to tell you, it’s simple,” Creighton said on the video. “He keeps moving his hands, he won’t listen to what I have to say.”

Floyd got out of the car and handcuffed. Later, a paramedic testified that Floyd told him he had been on opioids all day and that he had taken pills during his arrest. The paramedic also testified that Floyd had high blood pressure and she recommended that he go to the hospital.

The defense case centers on Floyd’s death, which was a key point of litigation at trial. A series of medical experts testified for the prosecution, claiming the police coercion restricted oxygen to Floyd’s body and caused his heart to stop. But defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that a combination of Floyd’s underlying heart disease, adrenaline and fentanyl and methamphetamine he ingested before the arrest was a fatal combination. .

Nelson also portrayed the crowd of passers-by near Floyd as unruly, and he should call a police expert to testify that the crowd distracted Chauvin to the extent that he was unable to carry out his law enforcement duties.

Judge Peter Cahill said testimony would likely end by the end of the week, possibly with a Friday off. He told jurors to expect to be sequestered following closing arguments on April 19. He had previously rejected a defense request asking that the jury be further questioned and immediately sequestered in light of the police shooting death on Sunday at a driver in the nearby Brooklyn Center, which led to the protests.

Chauvin, who has been seen in disturbing videos kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, is charged with second degree murder, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter.

Chauvin pleaded not guilty. The other three officers involved are accused of aiding and abetting, and are due to be tried jointly in August.