![]() Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she felt grateful and relieved. When the final guilty verdict was announced, the crowd roared, many people hugging, some shedding tears.Īt the intersection where Floyd was pinned down, a crowd chanted, “One down, three to go!” - a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis police officers facing trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death. Sentencing will be in two months.ĭefense attorney Eric Nelson followed Chauvin out of the courtroom without comment.Īs the judge asked jurors if they reached a verdict, a hush fell on the crowd 300 strong in a park adjacent to the courthouse, with people listening to the proceedings on their cellphones. His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. His face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom. Chauvin was found guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. For example, judges instruct juries every day, as did Judge Peter Cahill, that the question of sentencing or punishment of the offender in the event of a conviction is not the jury’s concern and must not factor into its decision regarding the verdict.īut the practical? The jury’s guilty verdicts tells us much about the prospect of holding accountable a police officer who - before our very eyes - decided he had the power and authority to be judge, jury and executioner.The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial people came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days. Jurors may not take into account the broader consequences, symbolic or direct, of their verdict. A jury’s verdict must be based solely and exclusively on the evidence introduced during the course of the trial. In fact, if a prosecutor argues to jurors that “their verdict should send a message to the community,” that could very well result in a mistrial or a reversal on appeal. On the legal front, juries are not permitted to consider what message their verdict will send. We often hear some version of the question, “What message will the jury’s verdict send?” In wrestling with this question, it’s worth exploring how the legal and the practical diverge. Yet juries in America reach unanimous verdicts every day. But try getting a dozen people to unanimously agree on the fate of a fellow citizen, a decision that will have enormous consequences for Derek Chauvin and his family, George Floyd and his family, the city of Minneapolis and indeed our nation? That is a tough row to hoe. Try getting 12 strangers to unanimously agree on anything - where to have lunch, for example. Any verdict, whether “guilty” or “not guilty” (there is no verdict of innocent), must be unanimous. I’ve had juries return verdicts in murder cases in 45 minutes and I’ve had juries deliberate for weeks. There’s a reason the medical profession doesn’t allow pulmonologists to make cause and manner of death determinations. Martin Tobin, the lovable pulmonologist with the Irish lilt, was, it’s a tactical blunder to dismiss his testimony as “preposterous.” Rather, I would have argued that Tobin, while a great choice to evaluate my sick child, simply did not have the right experience. ![]() He attacked the prosecution’s other medical expert witnesses, saying their testimony was “preposterous” when he simply could have said their opinions contradicting Baker were well intentioned but less important than the opinion of the man who actually performed the autopsy. And that is precisely why the prosecutors buried Baker way down in the trial batting order.īut Nelson chose another tactical path. ![]() Rather, he died of cardiopulmonary arrest, which, by his own words, “complicated” the attempts by law enforcement to restrain him. And in Baker’s expert, informed opinion, George Floyd did not die of asphyxia. The only medical professional who has a firsthand, informed opinion about Floyd’s injuries, or lack thereof. Baker was the only medical professional who performed the autopsy.
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