Derek Chauvin “guilty of murder,” according to the prosecution, the defense pleaded for his acquittal

From our correspondent in the United States,

The trial is over As it started : With 12 jurors facing photos The Agony of George Floyd Under Derek Chauvin’s knee. During the oral argument on Monday, the prosecution insisted: “You can trust your eyes, it was not about the police, it was murder. The accused is guilty.” After he refused to testifyHis lawyer attempted to plant a “reasonable doubt” in the jury’s mind about the cause of George Floyd’s death, asserting that many factors – drugs and the victim’s heart condition, in particular – had played out before to claim his innocence.

It is now up to the jury to try and reach a unanimous verdict. In the event of a conviction, Judge Cahill will then be responsible for determining the sentence. For the most serious charge, unintentional second-degree murder, Derek Chauvin theoretically risks 10 to 15 years in prison, but the prosecutor may request a heavier sentence.

‘Not a police trial’

In the eyes of many of the public, George Floyd’s death became a symbol of the police violence and systemic racism that plagued America. But Steve Schleicher, a member of the Prosecutor’s team, was careful to avoid this double-edged perspective, and repeated: “This is not the police trial. It is the trial of the accused and he has betrayed his emblem.

The prosecutor showed the jury pictures of Derek Chauvin immobilizing George Floyd for 9 minutes 29 seconds. Minneapolis Police Chief and former President Derek Chauvin testified as “an unreasonable and disproportionate use of force”. It is clear from Awesome anatomy pictures, With bruises and cuts on the side of his face, pressed his shoulder and George Floyd’s hand back to the sidewalk.

For the prosecutor, “there is no doubt.” As confirmed by a pulmonologist last week, George Floyd died “from lack of oxygen” because he “couldn’t breathe” with the weight of the officer on him: “You can believe your eyes. This issue is what you knew from the start, what you felt in your guts, and what you know now.” In your heart: It wasn’t the police, it was murder. The accused is guilty of all three counts. Shortly thereafter, colleague Jerry Blackwell concluded: “You were told that George Floyd died because his heart was too big. The truth is that he died because Derek Chauvin’s heart was so young.

Difficult mission to defend

Eric Nelson, Derek Chauvin’s attorney, knows that photos that have been around the world are not in his client’s favor. So he sought to expand the context of the drama. A video clip of the jury showed that “George Floyd fought back and kicked” during his arrest. According to him, “George Floyd’s immobilization was reasonable for his safety and for the safety of the officers.” Why did Derek Chauvin stay in the same position for so long? The police immediately called the fire department, with a fire station “a few minutes away.” So they installed George Floyd until the arrival of the “professional rescuers”. Nelson insists that “any reasonable police officer would have done the same”, repeating the word “reasonable” several dozen times in his argument.

But the defense focused mostly on the cause of death. Remember that George Floyd suffered from high blood pressure and an enlarged heart, that his coronary arteries were “75% and 90% blocked”, and that “large amounts” of fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in his body, Eric Nelson was referred to an autopsy report describing the death As a “multi-factor death”. “The suggestion that the drugs did not play a role is absurd,” she says after more than two and a half hours of pleading, before the judge attends the lunch break.

There is still an important point in the law. For second-degree manslaughter, the prosecution must prove that George Floyd died after intentional violence that played a “material” role in his death. Obviously, there could be secondary factors. But in the United States, the verdict must be pronounced unanimously, leaving the outcome of any trial uncertain. The judge advised the jury, “Hopefully the deliberations will be swift. But be prepared to be long.”