The Derek Chauvin Trial

I don't think Tryagain knows what the word "pedantry" means.

By the way, for old schoolers - language is never immutable. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say "At what are you looking?", which is what would be known as correct English, but sounds out of place today.

For 3 other cops facing trial in George Floyd’s death, will blaming Derek Chauvin work?
By STEVE KARNOWSKI


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“I would expect the theme of all three would be, ‘That’s a really bad thing that Chauvin did. I didn’t like it. I’m not responsible for what happened,’” former Ramsey County prosecutor Susan Gaertner said.
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Lane and Kueng can argue they were rookies, in just their first week as full-fledged cops, and felt a need to defer to Chauvin — their training officer — when he pinned Floyd’s neck to the ground with his knee for nearly 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd shouted repeatedly that he couldn’t breathe before going silent, then limp.

“Those two rookies have a facially different defense, and a very real factual defense, as compared to Chauvin,” Heffelfinger said.

Lane might have the best defense. Body camera video shows he asked the other officers if they should turn Floyd on his side — and Chauvin said no.

Local defense attorney Joe Friedberg said the evidence at Chauvin’s trial showed that Lane was “trying to use as little force as possible” before Chauvin arrived and took charge.

Kueng can be heard reporting to Chauvin at one point that he could not find Floyd’s pulse.
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Thao can argue that it was crowd control, keeping an agitated group of about 15 onlookers at a safe distance, and that he largely had his back to the other officers and Floyd.

“His defense could be, ‘I was just present and it takes more than presence to make a crime,’” Heffelfinger said.

But one of the onlookers Thao specifically ordered to stand back was Genevieve Hansen, a Minneapolis firefighter who can be heard on video pleading repeatedly for officers to check Floyd’s pulse. Hansen cried on the witness stand at Chauvin’s trial as she described her frustration at being prevented from coming to Floyd’s aid.

After Chauvin's conviction for Floyd murder, DOJ weighs charging him for 2017 incident involving Black teen: Source

The judge in Chauvin's murder trial didn't let lawyers bring up the incident.

...............Chauvin striking a Black teenager in the head so hard that the boy needed stitches, then allegedly holding the boy down with his knee for nearly 17 minutes, and allegedly ignoring complaints from the boy that he couldn't breathe.
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This one feels pretty egregious even though there are very few details. Looking for the bodycam data to confirm or present another narrative. So far, it seems like the police show up in force, the guy gets in his car to drive away and multiple policemen start firing into the car, blowing out the back window, shooting him in the back and killing him. The sheriff keeps saying he wants transparency but he is hampered by state laws (in NC, bodycam recordings are not public records.)

There is something fishy going on with the Sherriff in Elizabeth City, NC. He has promised the release of the body cam video, and then retracted the promise. The family lawyers were promised a viewing at 11:30 EST. Then they got a text saying “sorry, but there need to be redactions.”

Redactions?

I think what may be so touchy is that the video is of a half dozen police officers firing wildly at an unarmed man in a car as it’s moving away - hitting him in the back and killing him.


But of course that’s speculation- until they release the RAW, unredacted video in it’s entirety.

Only two family members were allowed in to see a small clip of the video, which was about 20 seconds long, said family attorney Ben Crump, who gave a press conference after the meeting.

“Let’s be clear, this was an execution,” said family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, who took notes as she watched the video with the family members. “Andrew Brown was in his driveway, and his hands were on his steering wheel [when officers] ran up to his vehicle shooting.”

The video seen by the family did not begin from the start of the confrontation with Brown, lawyers said.

Attorneys said shots were already being fired at the man as the 20-second video began.

Lassiter said Brown’s hands remained on the steering wheel as officers continued shooting at him.

At one point Brown began to back out the driveway to escape the gunfire and managed to pull away until the car came to rest after crashing into a tree. Lassiter said officers had the vehicle surrounded and were chasing the vehicle on foot while still firing their guns at Brown.