The defense began its case Tuesday at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin, seizing on a 2019 confrontation between police and George Floyd in which Floyd suffered dangerously high blood pressure and confessed to heavy use of opioid painkillers. Chauvin lawyer Eric Nelson has argued that Floyd died last May because of his […]
The parade of Minneapolis police officers rejecting a former officer’s actions in restraining George Floyd continued at his murder trial, including a use-of-force instructor who said officers were coached to “stay away from the neck when possible.” Lt. Johnny Mercil on Tuesday became the latest member of the Minneapolis force to take the stand as […]
The convenience store cashier who sold cigarettes to George Floyd and was handed a counterfeit $20 bill in return took the stand Wednesday at Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial as prosecutors laid out the sequence of events that led to Floyd’s ill-fated arrest outside. Prosecutors also played store security video showing Floyd in Cup Foods […]
A man who was among the onlookers shouting at a Minneapolis police officer to get off George Floyd last May testified Tuesday that he called 911 after paramedics took Floyd away, “because I believed I witnessed a murder.” Donald Williams, a former wrestler who said he was trained in mixed martial arts, including chokeholds, returned […]
The video of George Floyd gasping for breath was essentially Exhibit A as the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee on the Black man’s neck went on trial Monday on charges of murder and manslaughter. Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell showed the jurors the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, after telling them […]
A judge on Thursday granted prosecutors’ request to add a third-degree murder charge against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, a move that offers jurors an additional option for conviction and finally resolves an issue that might have delayed his trial for months. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill reinstated the charge […]
The long process of jury selection for a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death began Tuesday with two jurors picked and five dismissed, including some who said they would not be able to set aside their views on what happened. One woman who was dismissed said: “I definitely have strong opinions about […]
Jury selection for a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death was halted before it began Monday by the state’s effort to add a third-degree murder charge. As hundreds of protesters rallied outside the courthouse to call for Derek Chauvin’s conviction, Judge Peter Cahill said he did not have jurisdiction to rule on […]
Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, had his first court appearance Monday. A judge set an unconditional bail at $1.25 million or $1 million with conditions. Chauvin, who was seen on a disturbing video pressing his knee into the handcuffed black man’s neck for […]
A judge on Monday kept bail at $1 million for a former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder in George Floyd’s death. Derek Chauvin, 44, said little during an 11-minute hearing in which he appeared before Hennepin County Judge Jeannice M. Reding on closed-circuit television from the state’s maximum-security prison in Oak Park Heights. […]