George Floyd is dead and former Officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for murder at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as in the Court of Public Opinion each and every day since May 25th, 2020. In fact, Ann Coulter, in a very colorful manner, refers to Chauvin as a “white sacrifice.”
In an effort to set aside all hyperbole, here are the words and opinions of highly-skilled defense counsel, Andrew Branca, who has been monitoring the trial and posting daily accounts of the proceeding. As reported by American Thinker, the following key points are gleaned from the wrap-up of Branca’s trial coverage to date.
First are the very significant evidentiary problems ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media as to (1) cause of death, (2) whether Chauvin caused the death, (3) whether the force used by Chauvin was unlawful, and for some counts, (4) Chauvin’s intent. People who follow only the mainstream media coverage of the case are ignorant of these issues.
1. [T]he widely accepted narrative that Chauvin kept his ‘knee on the neck’ for 9 minutes has been thoroughly debunked by the prosecution’s own witnesses and the body cams. There was pressure by Chauvin’s knee, but it was not continuously on the neck, and was mostly on the back and shoulders, according to prosecution medical witness testimony. Recognizing this evidentiary problem, the prosecution case has shifted from the initial several trial days of claiming that pressure from the knee to the carotid artery cut off blood flow to the brain causing loss of oxygen and inability to breathe, a claim rejected by the prosecution’s own medical experts, to a broader claim that Floyd being restrained while handcuffed in the prone position with pressure from multiple officers impaired his ability to inhale.
2. The use of force was reasonable under the circumstances. Floyd was larger and heavier than the arresting officer, was resisting arrest, and complaining of being unable to breathe even as they tried to seat him in the squad car.3. Floyd was high (on three times a fatal dose of fentanyl) and foaming at the mouth and had earlier experienced some of the same symptoms from a drug overdose for which he had been hospitalized.
4. Both fentanyl and amphetamine pills were found in the squad car where he had briefly been placed:
To the extent the drugs ingested by Floyd also contained methamphetamine, however (and we know that the found pills contained both), then they also contained a stimulant, which could explain Floyd’s energized state in forcibly resisting lawful arrest against multiple officers for some 10 minutes.
The meth would also explain why Floyd’s pupils didn’t demonstrate the pin-prick constrictions of fentanyl overdose but were instead dilated — a condition the state used to argue, again, that it could not have been fentanyl that killed Floyd — the dilation would be induced by the meth component of the drugs.
All of this, of course, suggests an alternative cause of death other than Chauvin’s knee, and that is the self-induced overdose of Floyd via that pill ingestion on May 25.
5. The widely viewed video that seemed to show Chauvin had pressed against Floyd’s neck was misleading because of the camera’s perspective. The body cam which had been in the custody of Minnesota authorities revealed that his knee was on Floyd’s shoulder. That is consistent with the autopsy finding that his carotid artery had not been compressed nor had he died of asphyxiation. This should be a consistent warning again of overreacting to videos of disputed events — camera angles can provide misleading versions. Curious, isn’t it, that the government has had this exculpatory evidence in its possession all this time and only produced when required to for this trial, not earlier when it might have checked the rioting?
6. [T]he use of pressure and body weight to restrain a suspect was adopted by the MPD because it was a lesser intensity of force than the prior practice of using strikes — either barehanded, or with batons, or even with weighted gloves — to compel compliance.
The take home message for the jury is that Chauvin’s knee, far from being a public execution in a public street, was a lesser force than would otherwise have been required.
7. Angry bystanders interfered with the officers’ ability to control Floyd and obtain more quickly medical treatment for him. In effect, they at least contributed to his death.
What say you Def-Con News readers? The evidence so far seems to point toward an acquittal, however, the nation is now more racist than perhaps it ever has been and whites are generally guilty until they prove themselves innocent. Will Chauvin have been adequately proven innocent? And even then the deceptive left stream media report only what they deem necessary and appropriate. How will they spin the trial? Plus the liberal American coliseum attendees are desirous of seeing this human offering being torn apart and eaten by the lions. Will they be sated? Such are the times within our United States of America justice system in the year 2021. President Trump you are missed, sir.
