Millions of people watched George Floyd die while pinned under officer Derek Chauvin’s knee. Thousands of people protested in the streets for months, some violently.
Now, lawyers have to find 12 people in the Minneapolis area who have not yet made up their minds about the George Floyd case.
Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, is being charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
An appeals court ruling on Friday suggested he could also be charged with third-degree murder. Three other former cops are charged with aiding and abetting those crimes. They are set to go on trial later this year.
Now, lawyers must find an impartial jury. Three weeks have been blocked off to find 12 jurors and up to four alternates.
“Jury selection is going to be very long,” said Benjamin Crump, the Floyd family attorney. He said he is hopeful that “you can get people who will commit to be honest, and that’s all you can ever ask for.”
In this case, the jury selection process is much harder due to the media attention of the case, as well as the protests and violence that followed the death of George Floyd.
Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense attorney, requested a change of venue. He argued that media coverage of “riots and looting” was so intense that “the Twin Cities jury pools have surely been tainted and a fair trial cannot be had in the Twin Cities area.”
The judge disagreed and denied his request.
Marvyn Kornberg is a prominent New York City criminal defense lawyer no stranger to high-profile cases.
According to Kornberg, it would be extremely difficult to find a potential juror who was unaware of the allegations against Chauvin.
“If you get a guy who says he doesn’t know anything about anything in that case, you have to ask if he was on Mars when it happened,” said Kornberg.
Kornberg recommended looking for a juror who has an open mind. “Can you forget what they saw on TV and focus just on what you see and hear in this trial?”
a corner report, he died to his own lack of breathing due to his over dose of drugs that constrict the breathing system. another knife in the back for our respected men & women in blue. the same thing in ark, with the wm brown case. as reported by jud watch, it was pre-planed in d.c. . secret meeting’s were held & given tools this group of prof rioters.
George Floyd was a criminal. Why is there no mention of him holding up and abusing the store owner, thay’s why the police were there. He was resisting arrest and not following orders from the police, and one other thing, lets forget about him being high on drugs, you cannot scream for 9 minutes saying I can’t breathe. If you cannot breathe you cannot talk let alone scream, it is physically impossible. If we are going to rum scared everytime some minority group hollars about the work our police do everyday, we are in serious trouble. He is guilkty and should go to prison and his little black scum bag lawyer should go with him.
You are correct. The story here starts that Floyd died under Chauvin’s knee. That much IS true. That Chauvin, in ANY way caused, or contributed to, his death is NOT true. As you point out, he had committed a crime, which brought police into it. He was also on drugs, in fact had 4x the lethal level of fentanyl in his system at the time of his autopsy, plus meth and pot. The fact is, at MOST, all those cops are “guilty” of is not attempting to intervene sooner in the process. However, I doubt even a fully stocked and staffed ER on site could’ve saved him, by the time he went down under Chauvin’s knee. The only person who killed George Floyd IS George Floyd! He was no innocent (see long rap sheet in TX, on top of crime in which he was arrested). He was NO “hero”, and certainly no one to idolize! Did he “deserve” to die? Probably not, but what purpose is served in punishing 4 innocent (of his death) men for his crime of ODing on a dangerous drug? That’s just seeking revenge, and wrongly so, at that.
all these posts are correct! There is a more extended version of the video that was captured from the body cams the police were wearing – but it was never publicized until now! The UK had it and gave it back to us. Floyd was complaining of not being able to breath way before he was on the ground. He was foaming at the mouth and a bystander said “you’re going to have a heart attack”. He was asked by the police if he was high on drgus – he denied it but kept yelling and foaming at the mouth. He kept resisting arrest, was crying and fearful he was going to be shot – they finally got him out of his car and he kept resisting and was handcuffed. The knee on his neck was just a prelude to his already dying physical state. The FULL video will be provided at the trial as proof it was not murder.