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The Trial of Derek Chauvin


TexasHooch

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He’s saying “reasonable officer” a lot so far, and yeah, up to this point its all pretty reasonable. But it’s pretty obvious when that line of reasonableness is crossed. After you gain control, sit him on his ass up against the car, kick his feet out in front of him, cross em at the ankle. Done. 
 

Pinning him to the ground, whether its by the neck, shoulder, or chest is unreasonable and can lead to such results. He needs to go to prison. 

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I absolutely cannot see any reasonable justification for letting him walk on manslaughter 2 outside of just a hard on for cops/law and order 

Not sure. Do they have to find the continued knee pressure thing to be assault - to get a felony that causes unpremeditated death?
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Prosecution went long hoping idiot defense team would shit all over lunchtime.  And here we are.  Interesting move to fall for that one.  Let’s see how it plays out.  Only the most ardent backers of the blue would totally let Chauvin off - sadly there’s plenty of law and order (!!!!) dumbasses out there.  

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We've obviously had trials with racial undertones where different races looked at the trial differently. OJ is an example. A bit less was the trial of the Rodney King cops.  But in this case, I have to think that even a vast majority of white people are sickened when they see Chauvin kill George Floyd. Maybe Floyd's drug use or other health problems contributed to his death but I have no doubt Chauvin was the main cause. I can see that in the video. I don't need a medical examiner to tell what I'm seeing.

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15 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Sooo now what? Jury doesn’t leave that room until there’s a verdict? Or are they ushered to their sequestered rooms overnight and come back?

At least in Texas the jury pretty much decides when and how to deliberate.  Once when I clerked in the Southern District of Texas, the jurors had a verdict near lunch time.  They told the bailiff they would give the verdict but only after lunch was provided.  They control the process.

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2 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Prosecution went long hoping idiot defense team would shit all over lunchtime.  And here we are.  Interesting move to fall for that one.  Let’s see how it plays out.  Only the most ardent backers of the blue would totally let Chauvin off - sadly there’s plenty of law and order (!!!!) dumbasses out there.  

The judge gave the prosecution both worlds.  Short break for the arguments to stew, but no lunch for the jury to refresh.

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At least in Texas the jury pretty much decides when and how to deliberate.  Once when I clerked in the Southern District of Texas, the jurors had a verdict near lunch time.  They told the bailiff they would give the verdict but only after lunch was provided.  They control the process.

Thanks. What’s your gut telling you when will we have a verdict ?
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I haven’t followed this trial much but I did catch some of the defense’s closing argument today by chance. I cannot imagine the lawyer going through the video of the killing with Floyd clearly incapacitated and yelling that he can’t breathe helped the “reasonable police officer” bit.

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Seems like the defense lawyer wants to lose the case (without making it too obvious and getting disbarred), hoping that the political mob doesn't burn down his house.

Speaking of, the judge thinks Mad Marxine's comments might lead to a conviction being overturned on appeal:

Judge calls out Maxine Waters's comments on Chauvin murder trial as 'abhorrent'

Spoiler

Just moments after the jury had exited the courtroom on Monday to begin deliberations in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, Chauvin’s defense attorney pushed for a mistrial over its coverage.

“Now that we have U.S. representatives threatening acts of violence in relation to the specifics of this specific case, it’s mind-boggling to me,” Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, said to the judge.

“Well, I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” Judge Peter Cahill replied.

Over the weekend, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., attended a Black Lives Matter rally in Brooklyn Center, Minn., to protest the killing of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, a Black man, by police. At the rally, she encouraged activists to “get more confrontational” if Chauvin is not convicted of murder.

"I hope we get a verdict that says guilty, guilty, guilty," Waters said Saturday in response to a reporter’s question. "And if we don't, we cannot go away. We've got to stay on the street. We get more active, we've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business."

Like Nelson, Cahill took issue with the congresswoman’s comments.

“I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law,” Cahill said. “I think if they want to give their opinions, they should do so respectfully and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution, to respect a coequal branch of government.”

He went on to call Waters’s comments “abhorrent” but not prejudicial to the jury.

“They have been told not to watch the news,” Cahill said. “I trust that they are following those instructions.”

“A congresswoman’s opinion doesn’t matter a whole lot,” he added, denying Nelson’s motion for a mistrial.

 

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4 hours ago, vicerous said:

Found it interesting that there's no available transcript for the jury. Is that unusual? I've been on one jury and I recall it being available multiple times. 

The whole thing? Or just selected parts?

A court reporter can provide a rough transcript almost instantaneously these days, but in most court proceedings a certified transcript is used, and that takes some time to produce.  There's a not illegitimate fear of inaccuracies in rough transcripts.

I can't recall a jury in a Texas state or federal court getting a transcript of anything at all.  They can ask to have testimony read to them, but the judge and the parties usually get to look over the rough and correct things first.

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I'm not sure where I come out on post-trial protests.

In one sense, you have to let the system work.  Watch the system carefully for evidence of shenanigans, but let it work.

But, there's enough bias in the system that perhaps protests are worthwhile.  I guess my own biases (being a lawdog and having a certain amount of faith in the system) tell me that you have to accept the outcome if there are not clear biases in charging decisions/grand jury procedures, jury selection, and the trial itself.

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Yes let’s act like the mafia and threaten/bully the jury. Render the verdict we want or else. I hope that Chauvin is found guilty. But we are on a really perilous slope if we are counting on a verdict to solve our problems. Not a fan of what Maxine did either. Like I said, I hope they find him guilty.

But Moving forward, this is a really really bad precedent to set with future juries. Future verdicts. 
 

Hoping for a guilty verdict. 🙏🏼
 

@TwiceHorn just said it better than me. In post above this one. 

Edited by Nicole44
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8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I'm not sure where I come out on post-trial protests.

In one sense, you have to let the system work.  Watch the system carefully for evidence of shenanigans, but let it work.

But, there's enough bias in the system that perhaps protests are worthwhile.  I guess my own biases (being a lawdog and having a certain amount of faith in the system) tell me that you have to accept the outcome if there are not clear biases in charging decisions/grand jury procedures, jury selection, and the trial itself.

I come out on the end that most Americans are stupid as fuck and don't really even care about the trial or know any details of said trials. All they want is anarchy and a reason to go riot/protest. With that being said yes there are people who will do it the right way and peacefully protest.

 

If you paid any attention to this trial and Chauvin walks it isn't because the system, especially considering the makeup of the jury.

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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17 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I come out on the end that most Americans are stupid as fuck and don't really even care about the trial or know any details of said trials. All they want is anarchy and a reason to go riot/protest. With that being said yes there are people who will do it the right way and peacefully protest.

 

If you paid any attention to this trial and Chauvin walks it isn't because the system, especially considering the makeup of the jury.

Well, the other thing is that this case and the related protests, seem to have actually worked for once.  It seems like finally the cop issue is getting the attention it deserves, maybe the criminal justice system will too.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of the biases built in to the CJ system are individual ones, on the part of prosecutors, judges, and jurors, and the hardest to eradicate.  About all you can do is be scrupulously "fair" or unbiased at every step or stage of the proceeding.

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26 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

if we are counting on a verdict to solve our problems.

I think this is a very good point.  Despite my possibly pollyannish faith in the system, I also recognize that, even at its very best, it delivers a pale imitation of "cosmic" or true or perfect "justice."

And, I am particularly saddened by relatives of victims who seem to rely on the system for "comfort" or a solution to their grief and loss.

This scene from A Civil Action kind of sums up my feelings there.

 

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1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think this is a very good point.  Despite my possibly pollyannish faith in the system, I also recognize that, even at its very best, it delivers a pale imitation of "cosmic" or true or perfect "justice."

And, I am particularly saddened by relatives of victims who seem to rely on the system for "comfort" or a solution to their grief and loss.

This scene from A Civil Action kind of sums up my feelings there.

 

Even if there is a guilty verdict (hope there will be one) law makers need to act. Put in place some laws or whatever to ensure we are not in the same spot a year from now waiting on another verdict. I mean shit..:we are almost 30 years removed from a terrible outcome/verdict in the Rodney King case. Even with a guilty verdict we just hold our breath and wait for the next trial and next verdict. I hope not. Because we already have tons of problems. We can’t rest on a guilty verdict should we get one here. 
 

Also, I watched quite a bit of the trial but it seems like the media thinks this will go bad. Did I miss something? I feel like the trial went well for the prosecution? 

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