The trial against former police officer Derek Chauvin, accused of murdering George Floyd last May, started this Monday with the prosecution of the state of Minnesota (USA) focusing on the videos of the moment of his death and the defense, in to clarify the causes of the death of the African American.
At the very beginning of the trial, one of the prosecutors, Jerry W. Blackwell, addressed the 12 jurors and announced that his goal is to prove that Chauvin is "anything but innocent" and that he should be convicted of the alleged murder of Floyd on May 25, 2020, whose death sparked nationwide protests.
To that end, he showed one of the videos of Floyd's passing, recorded by a passerby.
The video opens the trial
The footage showed Floyd lying on the ground, handcuffed, moaning in pain, calling out for his mother, and repeatedly repeating, "I can't breathe!" and "I can't take it anymore."
It was also appreciated how Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd's neck and remained impassive to the shouts of passers-by, who rebuked him, asked him to let go of the victim and check if he still had a pulse.
Chauvin, sitting next to his lawyer in the courtroom, raised his head several times to look at the recording and lowered it again to keep his eyes fixed on a yellow notebook in which he was taking notes.
The now ex-police officer is charged with second degree murder, punishable by up to 40 years in prison; murder in the third degree, with a maximum sentence of 25 years; and second degree murder, which carries up to 10 years of deprivation of liberty.
For one of the Floyd family's attorneys, Ben Crump, this trial is a "referendum on how far we've come in this country for liberty and justice for all," according to his remarks at a press conference outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis.
The cause of death, in the center
Although the exact moment in which Floyd died, with Chauvin pressing his neck with his knee, was recorded, the defense of the ex-agent put on the table other possible causes of the death of the African American during the opening of the oral arguments.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson asserted that Floyd's death was caused by a combination of underlying heart disease, fentanyl use, and "the adrenaline that was coursing through his body" at the time of his death.
In his intervention, Nelson tried to divert the jury's attention from the video and delved into certain details of the case, such as that Floyd - he said - was drunk and acted with hostility towards the police and that Chauvin followed the protocols established by the Police Department of Minneapolis.
The first witnesses give their version
After the initial arguments of the defense and the prosecution, which were dominated by passion and drama, the trial began to slow down with the testimony of the first witness: Jena Scurry, who works at the Minneapolis 911 emergency center and who saw Floyd's arrest live through one of the security cameras.
At that point, while watching the footage, Scurry realized that "something was wrong" and thought the video had frozen because Chauvin wouldn't remove his knee from Floyd's neck, so she ultimately "instinctively" decided to go to the sergeant in charge of the officers to alert him of the situation.
Support from outside the court
The tension inside the courtroom was also felt on the streets of the "City of Lakes," although few people approached the trial venue on Monday, far removed from the massive protests that spread to several US cities following Floyd's death.
One of them was Jessica Murphew, a white Minneapolis native, who decided to go to court because several of her family members and friends "are affected by this trial."
"My children are Black, and I want to show them that I'm working hard for them and understand their suffering. I hope (Derek Chauvin) is convicted; what he did to George was devastating, very tragic," a visibly shaken Murphew told EFE.
They consider historic trial against police officer who killed George Floyd
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump today called the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minnesota police officer accused of the death of African-American George Floyd, historic.
"Today begins a historic trial that will be a referendum on how far the United States has come in its search for equality and justice for all," Crump said at a news conference outside the Hennepin County Courthouse, in the Downtown Minneapolis.
"This murder case is not difficult, you just have to watch George Floyd's torture video" and there would be no doubt that Chauvin would be convicted if Floyd were white, the lawyer said.
The trial of Chauvin, charged with second-degree murder and third-degree murder, is expected to last up to a month.
Floyd, 46, was pronounced dead in a hospital on May 25, 2020 after Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, even after he was unconscious.
Mobile phone recordings showed Floyd pleading with Chauvin on multiple occasions, saying he couldn't breathe, before running out of response.
"This was not a flash of anger, it became purposeful and deliberate, and justice must be purposeful and deliberate in this court," said Reverend Al Sharpton, moments before the opening of the proceedings.
Authorities ruled Floyd's death a homicide as the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's autopsy report revealed that he died of a cardiopulmonary arrest that complicated law enforcement submission, restraint and compression. By the neck.
The murder of the American black, along with that of Breonna Taylor, by the police, were triggers for massive protests and the Black Lives Matter riots nationwide.
Democrats are currently promoting a House-passed bill, the George Floyd Police Justice Act, which faces a rocky path in the Senate, where GOP lawmakers are criticizing it, they say, for being overly partisan.
Meanwhile, this morning civil rights activists and members of Floyd's family knelt to symbolize the time - eight minutes and 46 seconds - that Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd's neck, until causing his death. / Latin Press.
