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You are here: Home / News / Opening statements completed in Chauvin trial

Opening statements completed in Chauvin trial

March 29, 2021 By Scott Peterson

Opening statements are completed in the Derek Chauvin trial.  Prosecution attorney Jerry Blackwell laid out the state’s case against Derek Chauvin explaining that Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 9:29 on May 25th, 2020, resulting in Floyd’s death. Blackwell contended that “on May 25th of 2020, Mr. Derek Chauvin betrayed his badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of Mr. George Floyd.”The prosecution showed the full bystander video of the incident as part of opening arguments and said among its objectives in the case: “to give Mr. Chauvin a fair trial presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, we plan to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Chauvin was anything but innocent on May 25th, 2020.” Defense attorney Eric Nelson said the case is about much more than the 9:29 in the bystander video. He said to the jury “common sense tells you that there are always two sides to a story, common sense tells us that we need to examine the totality of the circumstances to determine the meaning of evidence and how it can be applied to the questions of reasonableness to actions and reaction.” The defense intends to argue that a drug overdose and underlying health conditions were the cause of Floyd’s death, not excessive use of force by Chauvin. As the trial began inside a Minneapolis courtroom, activists and members of George Floyd’s family and their attorneys gathered outside. The civil attorney for the Floyd family, Justin Miller, said the trial has significant racial implications and that the case was “about America being America for all Americans, not just some of us–all Americans.”

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