Yet as Mr. Chauvin, who is white, went on trial, one of the primary questions was whether this tactic would still work, especially amid shifting attitudes in America about drug use and with the country in the grips of an opioid epidemic.
“Tens of thousands of Americans struggle with self-medication and opioid abuse and are treated with dignity, respect and support, not brutality,” Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, lawyers for the Floyd family, said in a joint statement on Thursday. “We fully expected the defense to put George’s character and struggles with addiction on trial because that is the go-to tactic when the facts are not on your side.”