Mon, 12 Apr 2021 00:25 UTC
Screen capture from video evidence submitted in Chavin s trial. The state s own MMA expert Williams is visible at the scene wearing a Northside Boxing Club sweatshirt, shouting threats of imminent violence
Reasonable doubt before defense even begins is bad for conviction
Welcome to our ongoing coverage of the Minnesota murder trial of Derek Chauvin, over the in-custody death of George Floyd. I am Attorney Andrew Branca for Law of Self Defense, providing guest commentary and analysis of this trial for Legal Insurrection.
As we enter the 11th full day of trial in this case, the state is rapidly approaching the end of its presentation for its case in chief. We are, therefore, nearing a major inflection point for this trial.
The prosecution had a terrible, horrible, disastrous day 7. It was described as a “train wreck of a disaster for the prosecution” by Legal Insurrection.
The cross-examination of Nicole MacKenzie, the state’s medical care training expert, was so bad that the defense plans to re-call MacKenzie as a defense witness.
Also, state witness, Johnny Mercil, the state’s use-of-force training expert, left Prosecutor Schleiter “shaken and angry” after he testified. Mercil “mauled his case.”
At one point, Mercil testified that he himself had personally kept a suspect physically restrained until EMS had arrived on the scene, behavior which the state has been arguing for over a week was misconduct on the part of Chauvin, Legal Insurrection reports.