Chauvin Trial Commentary

[jsbhike]

1995 NIJ article that sums up the issues...

For the people here who just can’t get it through their head that GF didn’t die from being restrained because X-Y-Z... this stuff has been known for a long time. It used to happen all the time, just was never documented like it should have been. Training evolved, medical care got better, deaths went down.

LE in general and on here especially just circling and complaining, “what was he supposed to do”. The answer is and always was, not that. He certainly should have and probably did know better. He will have plenty of time to think about it. He won’t win anything on retrial if it comes to that, no expert will be willing to help after this trial.

https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles/posasph.pdf

"As soon as the suspect is handcuffed,
get him off his stomach."

[teufelhund1918]

I'm not a lawyer or any sort of legalist, but I'm a little baffled by the three different charges and the final verdict. I was under the impression that he could be found guilty of one of the three charges depending on what the jury deemed the level of severity of his actions, but how is he found guilty of three different levels of murder for one act? It seems they are calling one murder three.

[ChattanoogaPhil]

No, that was not the prosecution medical experts opinion AT ALL. Prone on a hard surface, hands cuffed behind back, weight on chest. Knee placement was not a factor.

The ME also found no damage to the neck or throat, so that agrees with the knee not being the cause.

Tobin testified that he calculated the amount of force on Floyd’s hypopharynx based on Chauvin’s weight, plus his gear, and the narrowed breathing canal caused by Chauvin’s knee. He said it was much worse than breathing through a straw. --- Earlier in this thread I posted a video link to Tobin's testimony. Here's a recap: https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/0...t-of-his-body/

I believe testimony from Dr Tobin and use of force expert Stoughton was compelling and difficult for the defense to overcome. The timeline of LEO comments crushed any notion that Chauvin was unaware of Floyd's distress and demonstrated to the jury lack of regard for life.

[Black_Sheep]

I'm not a lawyer or any sort of legalist, but I'm a little baffled by the three different charges and the final verdict. I was under the impression that he could be found guilty of one of the three charges depending on what the jury deemed the level of severity of his actions, but how is he found guilty of three different levels of murder for one act? It seems they are calling one murder three.

I don’t understand how he could be found guilty of all charges either, hopefully legal experts will explain how it works.

[eightmillimeter]

I'm not a lawyer or any sort of legalist, but I'm a little baffled by the three different charges and the final verdict. I was under the impression that he could be found guilty of one of the three charges depending on what the jury deemed the level of severity of his actions, but how is he found guilty of three different levels of murder for one act? It seems they are calling one murder three.

I don’t understand how he could be found guilty of all charges either, hopefully legal experts will explain how it works.

It’s charged that way to cover all the possibilities the prosecution can think of from the get go. Because he only committed one “murder”, the convictions merge at sentencing and he will face penalty based on the 2nd degree Murder.

Not all jurisdictions do it this way. Some places they would have charged whatever degree murder, jury either gets instructions for lesser included offenses or can ask for them from the judge.

[hotrodder636]

I too found this odd. To me it would either be murder or manslaughter, not both?

I'm not a lawyer or any sort of legalist, but I'm a little baffled by the three different charges and the final verdict. I was under the impression that he could be found guilty of one of the three charges depending on what the jury deemed the level of severity of his actions, but how is he found guilty of three different levels of murder for one act? It seems they are calling one murder three.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

So when does George Floyd get canonized as the new black Jesus?

Nobody is going to take a chance now. Before yesterday, I was still willing to bust in a house with a rifle to stop violent crime.

Today I am like “Naw. I will just ride around and get there when I get there. I’ll do a report and take pictures of the victims. But I’m not saving anybody anymore”

Chauvin is the Jesus, because he is being foresaken and sacrificed for all of our sins... Not that Chauvin wasn't with out sin.

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I don’t understand how he could be found guilty of all charges either, hopefully legal experts will explain how it works.

Certainly not how that works in Colorado. I was baffled by it too. We've lost plenty of cases here in Colorado from over charging DA's.

[chuckman]

Chauvin is the Jesus, because he is being foresaken and sacrificed for all of our sins... Not that Chauvin wasn't with out sin.

In the non-Christian world Jesus was a prophet as close to God as any prophet; to Christians, he is God. Chauvin is a POS horrible cop. Did he deserve to be found guilty of all three charges? I don't think so. Do I think he deserved to go to prison? Yeah, probably.

He isn't being forsaken. Sacrificed, maybe, by being found guilty of all three charges. At the end of the day I am not losing sleep over him.

[MWAG19919]

Don't want a knee in the back, do what the nice officer's ask you to do and don't resist arrest. Floyd would have been fine had he not resisted and fought back. But I guess you missed the previous 17 or so minutes of the incident beforehand....

No I watched the entire video. Someone earlier in this thread said GF should've simply been tased and I don't disagree, especially when they tried to pull him into the car and he pushed his way through to the other side. I don't even see it as wholly unnecessary to restrain him on the ground the way they did. But they took it way too far and had absolutely no regard for his safety. GF is dead because of their incompetence (or, according to the conviction, malice).