Chauvin’s trial jury says the verdict could have been reached more quickly Black Lives Matter News

A jury that voted unanimously condemned At the death of George Floyd, a former white police officer in Minneapolis says the deliberations were calm and methodical, as he and 11 other jurors spoke quickly on the way to the agreement.

Brandon Mitchell is the first jury to appear in public since Derek Chauvin was convicted on April 20 of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree murder when he killed Floyd, an unarmed black man, in May 2020.

An alternate jury member, who was not involved in the deliberations, had before him speak publicly.

Black Mitchell said the jury room was relieved after three months of emotional testimony “like a funeral.”

“It’s not human nature to see people die,” Mitchell said in an interview with The Associated Press, describing testimonies from day to day as a video of Floyd’s desperate screams as he held on to Chauvin.

“You know you want to be able to help someone … watch the same person die every day, and you’ll see a family member (in court).”

The prosecutor said Chauvin Floyd squeezed into the sidewalk They were 9 minutes and 29 seconds away from the Minneapolis Cup Foods on May 25th. Floyd was accused of passing a fake $ 20 bill at the store. The other three officials, since their release, are due to stand trial in August.

The prosecutor played a number of videos for the jury, including a video seen around the world in the hours following the death of teenage Floyd Darnella Frazier. In that video and people recording videos of the officers ’body cameras, people shouted for Chauvin and the other officers to come down from Floyd, warning them that he was cutting his breath, and asking him to check his pulse.

“It’s cold in the room. It feels dark, “Mitchell said about weeks of testimony.” It felt like a funeral there … The decision was easy. “

‘It should be 20 minutes’

Mitchell, the 31-year-old high school basketball coach, recounted his jury’s experience in a round of interviews with various media outlets, including one of ABC’s Good Morning America beliefs that he thought the verdict could come even faster: “I felt it should be 20 minutes.” , he said.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mitchell described the jury coming to work in the afternoon, sitting in the closing hours of the arguments. They chose Foresaldia, “then we went straight to the murder,” he said, with a preliminary vote and soon a final vote.

They broke up and returned the second day, and began with a third-degree murder charge.

“This has taken a little longer,” Mitchell said, adding that the language of the statute is “a bit complicated”.

After about four hours, he said the jury reached an agreement within half an hour with the second-degree murder. The group said it was working through the jury’s instructions as a checklist.

Mitchell described the music video as “sure” of the strongest aspect of the indictment, followed closely by Dr. Martin Tobin, a breathing expert, who “put it on top” to give Floyd a compelling and easy-to-understand explanation of what he couldn’t. to breathe because of the restriction.

Mitchell said Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson believed he “did really well.”

“I don’t think they didn’t, they didn’t have a way to go down,” he said. “They threw a bunch of things out to see what was going to stick,” but no one did.

“Since the initial statement and some initial arguments were very good, I was very curious and I was waiting for that moment, waiting for that moment …. that never happened,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Nelson thought it was a “good idea” to present about 15 people frequently as a potential threat to officers.

“The only issue is that no one was the enemy,” he said. A witness in the testimony was shocked that Nelson told a state investigating agent that he could hear Floyd say “I ate too much drugs” in a part of a body camera video. The agent later reversed his mind, saying he didn’t think what Floyd had said.

“I didn’t understand it very well,” Mitchell said.

Chauvin chose not to testify. Mitchell said he didn’t think it affected the final result: “I think there was too much evidence.”

‘Hopefully it sparks a lot of change’

Mitchell added that he felt no pressure to get a verdict that would reduce the chances of violent protests and that he did not believe the other jurors. Daunte Wright said she only knew about the police shooting that began a week ago in downtown Brooklyn near the black motorist driver. angry protest in the midst of the trial in that city.

Mitchell hid his involvement in the Chauvin trial from the children of the basketball team, saying they knew he was on the jury but that was not the case. He said he knew his mother and siblings.

“They wanted to continue on the jury, so they avoided it like a black plague (talking about the case),” Mitchell said. He said he was relieved to be able to talk about the case now.

He was eager to predict what would happen three other officers released Defendants in Floyd’s death: Thomas Lane, J Kueng and Tou Thao, all of whom are facing a joint August trial.

“Their cases will be very different,” he said, asking if Lane should turn to Floyd at some point. “It’s very difficult to say how much they took part in the events. It’s not so easy … as easy as Chauvin’s trial was.”

Mitchell “opened his eyes” to his participation in the trial, but he was hesitant to ask if it was also life-changing.

“Fortunately, it sparks a lot of change in my community,” he said.