According to De Vries, the area surrounding the courthouse has been turned into a fortress. “Shops have been boarded up, streets are lined with barricades and barbed wire and thousands of policemen and guards are on the move.”
Defense will cast doubt
The policeman’s defense contradicts the charges. “Derek Chauvin did exactly what he was trained to do in his 19-year career,” attorney Eric Nelson said on the first day of court hearing. “Using force is not pleasant, but it is a necessary part of police work.”
Traces of drugs were found in Floyd’s blood and attorney Nelson will argue during the trial that Floyd mainly died as a result of drug use, says correspondent De Vries. This contradicts the coroner’s reading, who concluded after the death that Floyd had been killed by a crime.
Furthermore, the attorney has been granted permission to involve a previous arrest of Floyd in the case. He was also arrested once in 2019 and swallowed the drugs he was carrying.
“The defense will mainly try to sow doubt because the jury must pass a unanimous judgment”, says De Vries. “There only needs to be one juror in doubt, and Chauvin is not found guilty.”
The case is expected to last at least the entire month of April.
A bystander filmed the violence and posted the (shocking) images on Facebook:
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