attempts to fully dislodge it continue. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. people in england have been enjoying a relaxation of the covid rules, as the stay—at—home order comes to an end. two households — or groups of up to six people — are now allowed to meet, although only outside. people can have an outdoor swim, and play tennis or golf outside as outdoor sports venues were given the green light to open in the early hours of the morning. we'll have more on that in a moment. and weddings with guests are also back on, but again only attended by up to six people. despite the easing of rules, borisjohnson has urged caution, saying that covid cases are on the rise in europe and that variants of the virus could threaten the effectiveness of the vaccine. here's sangita myska. today, parks, gardens and other outdoor spaces became the focus as lockdown restrictions in england begin to ease. two households or groups of up to six people are now allowed to meet outside. indoor get—togethers are still banned, nevertheless those at this hertfordshire park welcomed the first steps. the biggest part of moving forward is seeing people you haven't seen for a year or more. it will be lovely, and seeing family. what i really want to do is hug people. it's making me emotional. it's a really good feeling, as long as they do it responsibly. it's just a great opportunity when also the weather - is threatening to get - a little bit better, actually. this new public service message sets the tone. outdoors, the risk of infection is significantly lower. reminding the public that coronavirus is still circulating in the community so sticking to social distancing rules is essential. it's a message echoed by the prime minister and health professionals across the uk. i remain really optimistic, actually. we've broken much of that chain from infections to people going into hospital, but i think you're going to continually hear people in public health, on the front line, and advisers and politicians continuing to send the cautious message. so people can enjoy the new easing introduced in england today and elsewhere in the coming weeks. here in north—west london, swimmers had been taking full advantage of the reopening of outdoor sports facilities including lidos, tennis courts and golf courses. organised outdoor team sports can also resume providing a much—needed boost to our lives. as of this morning, in england, weddings with guests are back on. in hampshire, jessica and johnny postponed their big day four times in order that they could, as per government guidelines, have six guests attend. it gives me great pleasure to shut my book and say you are now husband and wife and you may kiss the bride! the easing of restrictions is predicated on the continued success of the vaccine roll—out programme. so far, 30 million people had been vaccinated. the government promises that every adult in the uk will have been offered at least one jab by the end ofjuly. other parts of the uk are following their own road map to easing lockdown. barry island and other beauty spots saw an upsurge in visitors over the weekend as unrestricted travel within wales was allowed. in scotland, the stay—at—home order will finally be lifted this friday. with a mini heatwave predicted for parts of the uk, families and friends reunited, and romance back in the airfor many like this couple in coventry, health officials are asking the public to remain cautious as they enjoy their new—found freedom. sangita myska, bbc news. i want to take you straight outside the courthouse in minneapolis. where nearly a year after the death of the black american george floyd, the trialfor murder of the former police officer derek chauvin will get under way later. lawyers for george floyd's family are expected to address the media ahead of the trial. let's listen in. in its quest for equality and justice for all. it would be evidence, regarding the killing of george floyd on may the 25th, 2020, right here in minneapolis, it would be primerfacie evidence right here in minneapolis, it would be primer facie evidence whether america is going to live up to the declaration of independence. i know everybody can quote the declaration of independence, but this trial is going to provide evidence of whether we really believe it when we say we hold these truths to be self—evident that all men are created equally. but amongst them are life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. well, america, that means black people too. america, that means george floyd too. for all of those people right now who continue to say that this is such a difficult trial, that this is such a hard trial, that this is such a hard trial, well we rebuke that because we know if george floyd was a white american citizen and he suffered this painful torturous death with a police officer kneeling on his neck nobody, nobody would be saying this is a hard case. and when people ask you that, activists, and the family thanks the activists, when people ask you isn't this a tough case because they are going to try to say george floyd had a trace amount of drugs in his system, you let them know that george floyd was living, breathing, walking and talking just fine until the police put him facedown and put him in handcuffs and put a knee on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. so this murder case is not hard. when you watch that torture video of george floyd, you all understand? this murder case is not hard when you watch that torture video of george floyd. and we have to call it what it is. it was torture. even under the geneva convention definition, this was torture. and derek chauvin should be held criminally liable for the death of george floyd. you know, we, the civil lawyers, make sure that george floyd's family get their civil justice that george floyd's family get their civiljustice under the seventh amendment with the historic $27 million settlement that not only included compensation for the family but also policy reform, and that is important but that is only part of the justice. important but that is only part of thejustice. george floyd, just like any other citizen, his family is deserving of whole justice, full justice. that means that the state and the agents of the government should hold individuals who commit crimes accountable under the tenth amendment, and black people in america should not only have to get partialjustice. we have every right to get hold justice, civiljustice and criminaljustice. nobody and criminal justice. nobody question and criminaljustice. nobody question when the diamond family got a $20 million settlement that that white family should not also get criminaljustice, so why is it that we were questioned in 2021 whether black people in america can get hold justice as well under the seventh amendment and the tenth amendment? we are not asking for anything extraordinary. we are asking for equal justice extraordinary. we are asking for equaljustice under the law. and newsflash, newsflash... breaking news... we expect in just a few minutes you are going to hear opening arguments, and they are going to take the playbook out. they are going to try to assassinate the character of george floyd. they are going to call your brother anything but the child of god. and they are going to talk about as much as they can about his record. but his record isn't the issue because this is the trial of derek chauvin. breaking news! this is the trial of derek chauvin. let's talk about his record, his 19 complaints of excessive force by citizens here in minneapolis. that is what we should be talking about. george floyd didn't kill anybody, derek chauvin was the person who killed george floyd. so why is it we will allow them to assassinate the character of george floyd after they assassinated his person? they taught me in law school that if you have the facts on your side, then by all means argue the facts. but then they said, if the facts. but then they said, if the facts. but then they said, if the facts aren't really with you, then try to assassinate your opponents then try to assassinate your opponent's character as a way to hopefully distract everybody from focusing in on the facts. well, everybody, please do not be distracted. the facts are simple. what killed george floyd was an overdose of excessive force. the transcript from the autopsies are clear, the murder and cause of death was asphyxiation by homicide. they choked him. it was a knee choke. so let's remember the facts here. this murder case is not hard. just look at the torture video of george floyd. when anybody asks you, remind them, this murder case is not hard. just look at the torture video of george floyd. the most viewed murder of a police on a citizen in the history of the world. it has been viewed just over 50 million times on youtube and bubbly many more times on cable television. —— probably many more times on cable television. everybody has seen this video. what we want to know is where we see justice. the whole world is watching. the whole world is watching. the whole world is watching. so you are going to hear from attorney roman lucci, attorney justin miller, and attorneyjeff stones. then you are going to hear from the family of george floyd. then after that you are going to hear from our civil rights leader, america's civil rights leader al sharpton. we are trying to time it where we can get eight minutes 46 and we are going to try to keep time, and then he gives us our call to action, we are going to take a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds and hopefully within the sound of his voice willjoin us and take that knee to understand what george floyd went through the last minutes and seconds of his life. without further ado, attorney, a great lawyer from chicago, without further ado, attorney, a great lawyerfrom chicago, illinois, my brother in this struggle. goad my brother in this struggle. good mornin: , my brother in this struggle. good morning, everybody. _ my brother in this struggle. good morning, everybody. yesterday! my brother in this struggle. good morning, everybody. yesterday i said we were _ morning, everybody. yesterday i said we were on _ morning, everybody. yesterday i said we were on day 306 of george floyd being _ we were on day 306 of george floyd being killed, today is day 307 but it is the _ being killed, today is day 307 but it is the first day ofjustice for the criminal case. as my brother ben trump _ the criminal case. as my brother ben trump said. — the criminal case. as my brother ben crump said, this is a case of common sense _ crump said, this is a case of common sense this_ crump said, this is a case of common sense this is— crump said, this is a case of common sense. this is not a case of george floyd's— sense. this is not a case of george floyd's character or his past, this is a case — floyd's character or his past, this is a case about what happened on may the 25th _ is a case about what happened on may the 25th of— is a case about what happened on may the 25th of 2020. i will tell you this, _ the 25th of 2020. i will tell you this, remember, mechanical asphyxiation by homicide. that was determined by the two independent medicai— determined by the two independent medical examiners that we brought to this town _ medical examiners that we brought to this town to— medical examiners that we brought to this town to examine george days after— this town to examine george days after he _ this town to examine george days after he was killed. and why we did that, _ after he was killed. and why we did that, because we had to challenge and attack— that, because we had to challenge and attack the narrative that the county _ and attack the narrative that the county had put out that he died of a fehtahyi_ county had put out that he died of a fentanyl overdose. immediately you fe nta nyl overdose. immediately you can fentanyl overdose. immediately you can see _ fentanyl overdose. immediately you can see that their message was for george _ can see that their message was for george floyd when it should have been _ george floyd when it should have been about derek chauvin. we are here to _ been about derek chauvin. we are here to be — been about derek chauvin. we are here to be the messenger for the goodness — here to be the messenger for the goodness of george floyd and what derek— goodness of george floyd and what derek chauvin did on george floyd that day _ derek chauvin did on george floyd that day. we are here because civil justice. _ that day. we are here because civil justice. we — that day. we are here because civil justice, we are there towards civil justice. _ justice, we are there towards civil justice, today criminaljustice, but iwitt— justice, today criminaljustice, but iwiii tett— justice, today criminaljustice, but i will tell you that we have to message _ i will tell you that we have to message something even more important. we have to message change of laws _ important. we have to message change of laws the _ important. we have to message change of laws. the minnesota general assembly will have an opportunity to change _ assembly will have an opportunity to change one of the most important laws that— change one of the most important laws that we have ever had in this state. _ laws that we have ever had in this state. and — laws that we have ever had in this state, and that is changing the arbitration reform bill. we want it so that— arbitration reform bill. we want it so that if— arbitration reform bill. we want it so that if a — arbitration reform bill. we want it so that if a chief of police fires a police _ so that if a chief of police fires a police officer because they lied, because — police officer because they lied, because they used on reasonable use of force. _ because they used on reasonable use of force, because there was egregious conduct, we want that termination by the chief of police to stand. — termination by the chief of police to stand, we don't want it overturned by an arbitrator. he fired _ overturned by an arbitrator. he fired those police officers because they failed to intervene, because they failed to intervene, because they didn't try and save george's life when— they didn't try and save george's life when he said "i can't breathe" 'ust life when he said "i can't breathe" just like _ life when he said "i can't breathe" just like we — life when he said "i can't breathe" just like we are all doing now, we are breathing, we don't have to think— are breathing, we don't have to think about it. george was begging to breathe. that is deserving of determination, it is not deserving of an— determination, it is not deserving of an arbitrator to overturn it. we are here — of an arbitrator to overturn it. we are here in — of an arbitrator to overturn it. we are here in george's spirit because every— are here in george's spirit because every day— are here in george's spirit because every day since his death george has sent a _ every day since his death george has sent a message and he will send a message _ sent a message and he will send a message in— sent a message and he will send a message in perpetuity. we will make sure that _ message in perpetuity. we will make sure that never ever needless death happens _ sure that never ever needless death happens again on an unrestrained nonvioient — happens again on an unrestrained nonviolent man, a black man killed at the _ nonviolent man, a black man killed at the hands of white police officers _ at the hands of white police officers never happens again. thank you very— officers never happens again. thank you very much. officers never happens again. thank you very much-— you very much. thank you, antonio romanucci- — you very much. thank you, antonio romanucci. hailing _ you very much. thank you, antonio romanucci. hailing from _ you very much. thank you, antonio romanucci. hailing from georgia, | you very much. thank you, antonio j romanucci. hailing from georgia, a person who has been instrumental in helping us achieve that historic civiljustice helping us achieve that historic civil justice for the family of george floyd, especially the child of george floyd, mybrother attorney justin miller. of george floyd, mybrother attorney justin miller-— of george floyd, mybrother attorney justin miller. ., g ., justin miller. good morning. my name is attorney justin _ justin miller. good morning. my name is attorney justin miller. _ justin miller. good morning. my name is attorney justin miller. on _ justin miller. good morning. my name is attorney justin miller. on behalf - is attorneyjustin miller. on behalf of my— is attorneyjustin miller. on behalf of my partner chris stewart who couldn't — of my partner chris stewart who couldn't be here today, i bring you greetings — couldn't be here today, i bring you greetings. this today is not the trial of— greetings. this today is not the trial of george floyd, and i have heard _ trial of george floyd, and i have heard people say that this is a george — heard people say that this is a george floyd trial, george floyd is not on _ george floyd trial, george floyd is not on trial. it is the trial of derek— not on trial. it is the trial of derek chauvin and it should be printed — derek chauvin and it should be printed and spoken about that way every— printed and spoken about that way every single time we talk about it. this trial— every single time we talk about it. this trial is — every single time we talk about it. this trial is about america being america — this trial is about america being america for all americans, notjust america for all americans, not just some _ america for all americans, notjust some of— america for all americans, notjust some of us, — america for all americans, notjust some of us, all americans. and it's can be _ some of us, all americans. and it's can be that — some of us, all americans. and it's can be that way and it should be that way — can be that way and it should be that way. we have to take time now to think— that way. we have to take time now to think about what we want for our children— to think about what we want for our children and for our families. this family— children and for our families. this family behind me is suffering, and they have — family behind me is suffering, and they have been suffering since the ireginning — they have been suffering since the beginning of this thing and they will suffer long after all of you have _ will suffer long after all of you have gone and all of us are gone. what _ have gone and all of us are gone. what we — have gone and all of us are gone. what we want to do and what this child can — what we want to do and what this child can do is to make sure that no other— child can do is to make sure that no other families have to suffer in this manner. george floyd was murdered. he wasn't killed, he didnt— murdered. he wasn't killed, he didn't die, _ murdered. he wasn't killed, he didn't die, he was murdered. and when _ didn't die, he was murdered. and when a _ didn't die, he was murdered. and whena man— didn't die, he was murdered. and when a man is murdered, there should be retribution. there is no real justice — be retribution. there is no real justice in— be retribution. there is no real justice in my opinion for a person who was— justice in my opinion for a person who was murdered. you can never get his life _ who was murdered. you can never get his life back, _ who was murdered. you can never get his life back, his daughter will never— his life back, his daughter will never get _ his life back, his daughter will never get her farther back, his irrothers— never get her farther back, his brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews— brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews will never have that person in their— nephews will never have that person in their life — nephews will never have that person in their life. but what we can do is make _ in their life. but what we can do is make sure — in their life. but what we can do is make sure thatjustice is served in the court — make sure thatjustice is served in the court room to derek chauvin, the person— the court room to derek chauvin, the person who _ the court room to derek chauvin, the person who for eight minutes and 46 seconds _ person who for eight minutes and 46 seconds tortured, murdered and killed _ seconds tortured, murdered and killed george floyd for everyone to see. killed george floyd for everyone to see you _ killed george floyd for everyone to see. you know, in the very beginning of this, _ see. you know, in the very beginning of this, i_ see. you know, in the very beginning ofthis. i had— see. you know, in the very beginning of this, i had to explain to my children— of this, i had to explain to my children why during a pandemic i was flying _ children why during a pandemic i was flying to _ children why during a pandemic i was flying to minnesota to talk about and to _ flying to minnesota to talk about and to represent the family of george — and to represent the family of george floyd, and to see their faces — george floyd, and to see their faces. their faces. to explain to them _ faces. their faces. to explain to them why— faces. their faces. to explain to them why america was different for them _ them why america was different for them and _ them why america was different for them and why they were going to have to change _ them and why they were going to have to change and understand what was going _ to change and understand what was going on _ to change and understand what was going on. ten years old and seven years— going on. ten years old and seven years old. — going on. ten years old and seven years old. it — going on. ten years old and seven years old, it broke my heart to see their— years old, it broke my heart to see their faces — years old, it broke my heart to see their faces after i explained that. i their faces after i explained that. i don't _ their faces after i explained that. i don't think another family should have to _ i don't think another family should have to explain that to their children _ have to explain that to their children. i think this should be the last time, — children. i think this should be the last time, and in that court room behind _ last time, and in that court room behind us — last time, and in that court room behind us in _ last time, and in that court room behind us in minneapolis, minnesota, we can— behind us in minneapolis, minnesota, we can go— behind us in minneapolis, minnesota, we can go a _ behind us in minneapolis, minnesota, we can go a long way in making that a reality _ we can go a long way in making that a reality in— we can go a long way in making that a reality. in the words of a good friend _ a reality. in the words of a good friend of— a reality. in the words of a good friend of mine, stephenjackson, who was here _ friend of mine, stephenjackson, who was here in— friend of mine, stephenjackson, who was here in the very beginning of all was here in the very beginning of at! of— was here in the very beginning of at! of this, — was here in the very beginning of all of this, who pushed and kept this case — all of this, who pushed and kept this case in— all of this, who pushed and kept this case in the limelight, he said" justice _ this case in the limelight, he said" justice for— this case in the limelight, he said" justice for george floyd and love for att— justice for george floyd and love for all who have love for all. love for all who have love for all. love for at! _ for all who have love for all. love for at! who — for all who have love for all. love for all who have love for all. love for all who have love for all." today— for all who have love for all." today we _ for all who have love for all." today we can get some measure of justice _ today we can get some measure of justice. today is the beginning of a new era _ justice. today is the beginning of a new era for— justice. today is the beginning of a new era for minneapolis, minnesota and for— new era for minneapolis, minnesota and for america, and also for the world _ and for america, and also for the world as — and for america, and also for the world as a — and for america, and also for the world as a whole. keep your eyes on minnesota, — world as a whole. keep your eyes on minnesota, this is where change is going _ minnesota, this is where change is going to _ minnesota, this is where change is going to start. thank you.- minnesota, this is where change is going to start. thank you. thank you attorney miller. _ going to start. thank you. thank you attorney miller. and _ going to start. thank you. thank you attorney miller. and as _ going to start. thank you. thank you attorney miller. and as i _ going to start. thank you. thank you attorney miller. and as i get - going to start. thank you. thank you attorney miller. and as i get ready . attorney miller. and as i get ready to bring our attorney from minneapolis, we are trying to be coordinated, we want to speak at around 8.40 or so and 8.46 this symbolic, and we will try to have you all follow his instructions. attorneyjeff starnes, one of the great minnesota lawyers, who really helped us. now we are turning to attorney general keith ellison and his team of prosecutors to deliver criminaljustice and it has been such an honour to work with you in your native home town.— such an honour to work with you in your native home town. thank you, it has been an — your native home town. thank you, it has been an honour _ your native home town. thank you, it has been an honour to _ your native home town. thank you, it has been an honour to work- your native home town. thank you, it has been an honour to work with - your native home town. thank you, it has been an honour to work with you | has been an honour to work with you as weit~ _ has been an honour to work with you as weit~ for— has been an honour to work with you as well. for too long, too many of us have _ as well. for too long, too many of us have been deliberately indifferent at least to the atrocities that have befallen our black— atrocities that have befallen our black brothers and sisters. but today— black brothers and sisters. but today is — black brothers and sisters. but today is a _ black brothers and sisters. but today is a landmark moment behind us today is a landmark moment behind us to show— today is a landmark moment behind us to show the _ today is a landmark moment behind us to show the world that no longer will we _ to show the world that no longer will we be — to show the world that no longer will we be deliberately indifferent to hate _ will we be deliberately indifferent to hate. through love and power through— to hate. through love and power through these leaders, through these families— through these leaders, through these families that have suffered, we will all families that have suffered, we will at! work— families that have suffered, we will all work together to eradicate it. in all work together to eradicate it. in every— all work together to eradicate it. in every manner possible. and that means— in every manner possible. and that means both — in every manner possible. and that means both civil and criminal justice~ — means both civil and criminal justice. and we are all playing a role in — justice. and we are all playing a role in that, and we thank you all for that — role in that, and we thank you all for that. thank you.— role in that, and we thank you all for that. thank you. thank you so much. for that. thank you. thank you so much- now _ for that. thank you. thank you so much- now we — for that. thank you. thank you so much. now we are _ for that. thank you. thank you so much. now we are going - for that. thank you. thank you so much. now we are going to - for that. thank you. thank you so much. now we are going to have | for that. thank you. thank you so i much. now we are going to have his family... it is going to feel emotionalfor them and family... it is going to feel emotional for them and you family... it is going to feel emotionalfor them and you can imagine they are about to have to sit through this court proceeding and hear them talk about the person who they all grew up with. congresswoman sheila jackson reminds us that not only is george floyd family in the limelight but also the whole neighbourhood, all of black america is in the limelight as we deal with this landmark case, and his family, all of them, have been so dignified and graceful in the face of this unimaginable horrific tragedy. can you imaginejust face of this unimaginable horrific tragedy. can you imagine just for a second if that was your loved one? who was down on that ground begging. i don't think many people can imagine that, especially our white brothers and sisters, they can't fathom that. butjust try brothers and sisters, they can't fathom that. but just try to brothers and sisters, they can't fathom that. butjust try to imagine that if you can, just try to imagine the person who you grew up with. the person who looked after you on that ground begging for a breath. and at the last moments of his life on this earth, that is what they are dealing with. so we are going to call his brothers to come before you. and also his cousins are here. so the brothers, if you will all come forward, you are representing the legacy of your brother. we are here from houston, texas. our brother— we are here from houston, texas. our brother represents any ghetto around america _ brother represents any ghetto around america. he represents. he came to minnesota — america. he represents. he came to minnesota to better himself, and he had a _ minnesota to better himself, and he had a iot— minnesota to better himself, and he had a lot of— minnesota to better himself, and he had a lot of great things going. he fell had a lot of great things going. he felt in _ had a lot of great things going. he felt in love — had a lot of great things going. he fell in love with the city, he fell in love — fell in love with the city, he fell in love with the people. minnesota offered _ in love with the people. minnesota offered so — in love with the people. minnesota offered so much to him. bear with me, offered so much to him. bear with me. y'ait — offered so much to him. bear with me, y'all. george floyd came to the city to— me, y'all. george floyd came to the city to make — me, y'all. george floyd came to the city to make a better way for himself. _ city to make a better way for himself, and unfortunately mr derek chauvin, _ himself, and unfortunately mr derek chauvin, you have all seen the video. — chauvin, you have all seen the video, eight minutes and 46 seconds, a knee _ video, eight minutes and 46 seconds, a knee on— video, eight minutes and 46 seconds, a knee on our— video, eight minutes and 46 seconds, a knee on our brother's neck. y'all, piease, _ a knee on our brother's neck. y'all, please, do — a knee on our brother's neck. y'all, please, do not be entertained by the lie please, do not be entertained by the tie they— please, do not be entertained by the tie they are — please, do not be entertained by the lie they are going to throw out on him _ lie they are going to throw out on him the — lie they are going to throw out on him. the truth is he was killed in the streets _ him. the truth is he was killed in the streets. he came from houston to make _ the streets. he came from houston to make a _ the streets. he came from houston to make a better way for himself and unfortunately mr derek chauvin kitted _ unfortunately mr derek chauvin killed our brother in the street. keep— killed our brother in the street. keep in— killed our brother in the street. keep in mind he was murdered in the streets. _ keep in mind he was murdered in the streets, that's all, i'm going to leave _ streets, that's all, i'm going to leave it — streets, that's all, i'm going to leave it at _ streets, that's all, i'm going to leave it at that. it�*s streets, that's all, i'm going to leave it at that.— leave it at that. it's cold out here. leave it at that. it's cold out here- but — leave it at that. it's cold out here. but the _ leave it at that. it's cold out here. but the heat - leave it at that. it's cold out here. but the heat is - leave it at that. it's cold out here. but the heat is on. . leave it at that. it's cold out | here. but the heat is on. the leave it at that. it's cold out - here. but the heat is on. the state in minneapolis, minnesota, they will have to make the right decision. they can't sweep this under the rug. george floyd, killed by officers that were sworn to protect us. many others who i can't name, there's so many, throughout america. but one thing i can tell you, we will get justice. we will not allow derek chauvin and his crew to be the judge, the prosecutor and the executioner. if we can't getjustice for a black man here in america, we will get justice for a black man here in america, we will getjustice everywhere else in america. this is a starting point, this is not the finishing point. we will be around the world to get justice for all others. brazil, london, ghana, anywhere we have to go to. because the shade of your skin should not be a death sentence. america is watching, just like this press. the court television will display everything, just like when that man had his knee on mybrother�*s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. everybody has seen it. you have to be blind if you didn't see it. thank you all. now, brandon williams, — thank you all. now, brandon williams, his _ thank you all. now, brandon williams, his nephew- thank you all. now, brandon williams, his nephew that i thank you all. now, brandon l williams, his nephew that was thank you all. now, brandon - williams, his nephew that was like a son to _ williams, his nephew that was like a son to him — williams, his nephew that was like a son to him. , williams, his nephew that was like a son to him-— son to him. every time we come to minnesota. — son to him. every time we come to minnesota, and _ son to him. every time we come to minnesota, and we _ son to him. every time we come to minnesota, and we have _ son to him. every time we come to minnesota, and we have been - son to him. every time we come to minnesota, and we have been here son to him. every time we come to i minnesota, and we have been here a few times as a horrific day, it is never easy. but i think i can speak for us all when i say that this trip was a lot easier, we came here for one thing and one thing only. we came to getjustice. and nothing less. we came to getjustice. when you think about may 25 and see my uncle lay on the ground, not resisting arrest, calling for his mother, with a knee on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds and never did anyone think to render aid to say, hey, maybe he is telling the truth and maybe he can't breathe. so, if this trial is hard, we have to justice systems in america, one for white america and one for black america and we cannot have that. so i think today is definitely the starting point. this change is long overdue in this country. this can go all the way back to rodney king. as my uncle said, blind man could see this. a blind man could see that that was murder. despite anything that was murder. despite anything that they say about my uncle, that was murder. so either they were not trained and qualified to do their job or they intended on taking his life. eitherway, job or they intended on taking his life. either way, we need justice. and i think throughout this whole trial, there is one word that you will hear me and my family say a lot, justice. somebody needs to be held accountable. you mean to tell me that if you did not encounter derek chauvin that day, he would have still died? anybody out here standing here today believes that there still a problem in america, problem that needs to be addressed and addressed today. we cannot get george floyd back, but what we can do is make sure that no family feels this pain and suffering that we feel. his daughter won't have a father in her life, his brothers won't have a big brother to love and protect them the way that he did. somebody needs to be held accountable. and we are going to demand that. thank you. the last brother you _ demand that. thank you. the last brother you will _ demand that. thank you. the last brother you will hear _ demand that. thank you. the last brother you will hear from - demand that. thank you. the last brother you will hear from is - demand that. thank you. the last brother you will hear from is from new york, — brother you will hear from is from new york, terrence floyd. peace, everybody- _ new york, terrence floyd. peace, everybody- like — new york, terrence floyd. peace, everybody. like my _ new york, terrence floyd. peace, everybody. like my family - new york, terrence floyd. peace, everybody. like my family said, i new york, terrence floyd. peace, l everybody. like my family said, this is a very trying and hard time press. —— hard time for us, but thank you for the prayers, love, support, that really supported us. it is a different because all the occasions we saw before, i can name too, because i'm from new york... i actually lived around the corner from where a man got shot, and i was sleeping and i heard the gunshot and when i woke up in the morning everybody was saying what had happened around the corner. i had friends that went to school with sean, so to see that, no justice in that the tuition, it may be serious. —— nojustice in that that the tuition, it may be serious. —— no justice in that situation, that the tuition, it may be serious. —— nojustice in that situation, it made me furious. even more furious, but it hit different right now because we are on the other side of the fence. that was my brother and itjust the fence. that was my brother and it just feels very different to just sit there and watch the video. and i watched it numerous times and some people say, why are you doing that to yourself? because it is just like a person has a voice mail and they lose a loved one, but they call the voice mailjust to hear their voice, i was watching the video, not to get myself angry, but that was the last time i could hear his voice. so i watched it, i watched it. every time i watched it it seemed like itjust may be stronger because i knew, they murdered him, but we are still floyd strong and we are still here, so we are going to hold it down for him. they say trust the system, they want us to trust the system, this is your chance to show us. to show us that we can trust you. thank you.- we can trust you. thank you. thank ou, we can trust you. thank you. thank you. terrence- _ we can trust you. thank you. thank you, terrence. and _ we can trust you. thank you. thank you, terrence. and to _ we can trust you. thank you. thank you, terrence. and to all _ we can trust you. thank you. thank you, terrence. and to all of - we can trust you. thank you. thank you, terrence. and to all of his - you, terrence. and to all of his family. — you, terrence. and to all of his family. his _ you, terrence. and to all of his family, his sister bridget and his daughter— family, his sister bridget and his daughter gianna and everybody, his sisters— daughter gianna and everybody, his sisters and — daughter gianna and everybody, his sisters and the whole floyd family, thank— sisters and the whole floyd family, thank you — sisters and the whole floyd family, thank you all for being dignified and graceful in your fight for justice _ and graceful in your fight for justice. america, this is the opportunity, this is the opportunity. last night, our national— opportunity. last night, our national civil rights leader, a person— national civil rights leader, a person who has been with the family since _ person who has been with the family since the _ person who has been with the family since the beginning, reverend al sharpton— since the beginning, reverend al sharpton had a prep visualjust similar— sharpton had a prep visualjust similar because they understood that we needed —— they had a prayer vigii, _ we needed —— they had a prayer vigii, they— we needed —— they had a prayer vigil, they understand that we needed — vigil, they understand that we needed to pray for this family and for america because this is a similar— for america because this is a similar moment, a landmark moment in american _ similar moment, a landmark moment in american history. and so we need to pray that— american history. and so we need to pray that america can live up to our ideats _ pray that america can live up to our ideats we — pray that america can live up to our ideals. we need to pray that america can continue — ideals. we need to pray that america can continue to be the beacon of hope _ can continue to be the beacon of hope and — can continue to be the beacon of hope and justice for all the world to model. — hope and justice for all the world to model, because the whole world is watching _ to model, because the whole world is watching and america, we are so desperately wanting to believe marginalised people of colour will -et marginalised people of colour will get the _ marginalised people of colour will get the same constitutional rights as all— get the same constitutional rights as all other american citizens enjoy~ — as all other american citizens enjoy. but historically, we have not seen _ enjoy. but historically, we have not seen that, — enjoy. but historically, we have not seen that, america. there has not —— that has— seen that, america. there has not —— that has not— seen that, america. there has not —— that has not been our reality. so george — that has not been our reality. so george floyd galvanised, citizens all george floyd galvanised, citizens ait across— george floyd galvanised, citizens all across america, across the world, _ all across america, across the world, would not videos torture —— that video — world, would not videos torture —— that video of — world, would not videos torture —— that video of torture was viewed miiiions— that video of torture was viewed millions of times. so, america, this is the _ millions of times. so, america, this is the moment to show the rest of the world — is the moment to show the rest of the world that you are the standard—bearer when it comes to liberty— standard—bearer when it comes to liberty and — standard—bearer when it comes to liberty and justice for all. the whole — liberty and justice for all. the whole world is watching. the whole world _ whole world is watching. the whole world is _ whole world is watching. the whole world is watching. the whole world is watching. and so it is befitting an appropriate that we will have our civil rights _ an appropriate that we will have our civil rights leader, my mentor, one of our— civil rights leader, my mentor, one of our co—counselors, even though he's not _ of our co—counselors, even though he's not a — of our co—counselors, even though he's not a lawyer, the man who answers— he's not a lawyer, the man who answers the bell all the way from rodney _ answers the bell all the way from rodney king all the way up to breonna — rodney king all the way up to breonna taylor, jacob blakjunior, anthony— breonna taylor, jacob blakjunior, anthony mclean, i am talking about black people who were killed by police _ black people who were killed by police in — black people who were killed by police in 2020. i am not talking about _ police in 2020. i am not talking about trade on and mike brown and others _ about trade on and mike brown and others. even here in 2020, think about— others. even here in 2020, think about how— others. even here in 2020, think about how many hashtags were created during _ about how many hashtags were created during the _ about how many hashtags were created during the covid—19 pandemic when everything — during the covid—19 pandemic when everything was shut down and america. _ everything was shut down and america, except implicit bias and police _ america, except implicit bias and police brutality. so that is why we need _ police brutality. so that is why we need his— police brutality. so that is why we need his moral leadership now more than ever _ need his moral leadership now more than ever. the reverend al sharpton. thank _ than ever. the reverend al sharpton. thank you _ than ever. the reverend al sharpton. thank you. let me say that last may, when this nation and world witnessed a lynching by knee of george floyd, we are here to see the case of a man that used his knee to lynch a man and then blame the man for the lynching. percival, —— first of all, what was george floyd even being approached for by police that would warrant you using the force that you use? what was the reason that he was apprehended in the way that he was apprehended in the way that he was apprehended and why is the attempt being made by the defence to talk about what was the stimulant that might have been in george floyd? what was a stimulant that would make a man hold his knee on another man's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds? i have asked people around the world to join us today at 8:46pm —— 8:46am, a few minutes, the family, the attorneys and i are going to take any for eight minutes and 46 seconds. when i did the eulogy in minneapolis of george floyd and we had people stand that long, people tweeted all over the world after three minutes they were tired. what kind of hatred do you have that would make you keep pressing down that long while a man is begging for his life? while a man is begging for his life? while a man is asking for his mother? at what point does your humanity kick in? at what point does the letter of the law kicking? at what point do you say, wait a minute, the guidelines need to kick in? this was not a —— eight seconds, it was intentional and deliberate and justice must be intentional and deliberate in the courthouse. sojust like intentional and deliberate in the courthouse. so just like we came last year to be with his family, we told them we would be here until the end and we will be in and out until the end and we wanted to end for justice. but make no mistake about it, mr chauvin is in the courtroom, but america is on trial. america is on trial to see if we have gone to the place where we can hold police accountable with they break the law. the law is for everybody, police men are not above the law. police men are not above the law. police men are subject to the law, and that is what is going on in the courtroom and that is why we are here. the other thing that we are dealing with is that there is a law that has already passed the house of representatives called the george floyd justice and police act, it is now headed into the senate. we are asking the senate to pass that loss so that the federal law can be there to prevent george floyd situations from happening again. please stand with this family in the shadows of this courthouse to say there is a jury this courthouse to say there is a jury and here and a jury in the us senate, and the us senate need to make federal law in the name of george floyd that would deal with all of this that would supersede these state laws that give escape routes to policeman. i was in the room in houston, texas when then candidate joe room in houston, texas when then candidatejoe biden met with this family and promised that if he became president, he would fight for justice. he has supported this bill. mr president, madam vice president, majority leader schumer, they are going in this courtroom having faith in the system that has been broken for eric garner, whose mother is here, that was broken for other families. we will stand up with dignity with his family. we need the senate to stand up with dignity for people in this country. make notes mistake about it, there were videos before and you did not give us justice. there is a video with rodney king and it went to state court and let those police become acquitted. there is a video of eric garner, never got to court. you have the opportunity to make it right this time and make it right for the country. you will never be able to bring this family's brother back, you will never fill that hole, but you will never fill that hole, but you can, in his name, stop this from continuing to happen over and over again. and let me say to all of those who have marched through the last several months, many with us and many on their own, white, black, old, young, does not matter, intergenerational, interracial communities that have marched is a reason we are in this courtroom. it was the reason that there is even a shot at justice. was the reason that there is even a shot atjustice. and we thank them for marching. we have 30 seconds, let us prepare to take any... we are taking a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds and we want you to think of during that time why chauvin did not, in that time, get his knee up. studio: for viewers who are just joining us, this is a big demonstration taking place outside the courtroom in minneapolis where the courtroom in minneapolis where the white police officer derek chauvin is about to go on trial, charged with the murder of george floyd. there have been some impassioned and emotional speeches made by members of the family and also by his team of lawyers talking about the importance of this case. people have now, as you can see, tended to take a knee and they will do so for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the time that george floyd said to have experience that same amount of time, eight minutes and 46 secondsis amount of time, eight minutes and 46 seconds is of the time that george floyd is said to have had a knee held against his neck so. so symbolically, the crowd is going to stay kneeling for that period of time. if stay kneeling for that period of time. , ., . stay kneeling for that period of time. i. ., ., ., , time. if you are tired already, think about _ time. if you are tired already, think about this, _ time. if you are tired already, think about this, we - time. if you are tired already, think about this, we are - time. if you are tired already, think about this, we are not l time. if you are tired already, . think about this, we are not even halfway in and you are ready to get up. three minutes. switch knees. studio: well, we are going to with these pictures and with this event, not being held in total silence, as you can see, but symbolically a very charged and emotional event. people they are taking the knee, remembering the event that was recorded by passersby last year of george floyd, who was being knelt on by the police officer, derek chauvin. the film showed this had happened for eight minutes and 46 seconds and you can see some of the masks have exactly that on the front. we will stay with this while it is going on and we will see if there are more speeches afterwards. eight minutes and 46 seconds. yeah. five minutes- — god is good. during those lunges. six minutes. hold together. anyone who doesn't believe this is murder— anyone who doesn't believe this is murder needs to get down here for eight _ murder needs to get down here for eight minutes and 46 seconds. you had to make _ eight minutes and 46 seconds. you had to make pp _ eight minutes and 46 seconds. gm. had to make up your mind, it had to be. studio:, you are joining be. studio:, you arejoining us, watching pictures outside minneapolis courtroom where the white police officer derek chauvin is going to go on trial accused murderer of george floyd in may of last year. these are supporters, family, friends and his legal team all taking the knee for eight minutes 46 seconds, which was the period of time that passersby —— and passersby recorded mr chauvin kneeling on the neck of george floyd. we have had speeches until now from lawyers, the family and from the reverend al sharpton who you can see there in the middle of the picture. a veteran civil rights activists, of course, and all of them talking about the significance of the trial that is to come. one of the lawyers talked about the trial being about, the question was america for all americans. our black people as entitled to equality and justice as everybody at —— as everybody else? of global interest, this trial, and se ofjust heard they have been taking the knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. lord have mercy. no justice... iikla seven, eight. lord have mercy. no 'ustice... ., , seven, eight. lord have mercy. no justice- - -_ no - seven, eight. lord have mercy. no| justice. . ._ no justice. .. justice... no peace... no 'ustice... no peace... — justice... no peace... no 'ustice... no peace... no i justice... no peace... no 'ustice... no peace... nojustice... _ justice... no peace... nojustice... no peace... nojustice... no - no peace... no 'ustice... no peace... that _ no peace... nojustice... peace... that give you no peace... nojustice... iii. peace... that give you an no peace... nojustice...- peace... that give you an idea of how long chauvin had george floyd down. it had to be intentional. that is the case we make with that taking of the knee. the family goes in this court seeking justice for all of us in america. let us pause in a minute of prayer as we prepare to lead the family inside for these deliberations. let us pray... studio: well, we are going to leave that event now, but we will bring you a bbc news special programme from 3pm, in a few minutes' time, covering the start of the trial of derek chauvin. that's with matthew amroliwala and larry madowo here on bbc news. for the time being, let's take a look at the weather here. hello there. it's going to feel very springlike. in fact, almost like early summer for the start of this week. plenty of sunshine, especially for england and wales and with light winds around an area of high pressure, it is going to feel extremely warm. and it stays very wet for the northwest of scotland, some pretty heavy and persistent rain here. by the end of the week, it's the complete opposite. we will start to see arctic northerly spreading southwards. it will turn much colder for all and we could even see some wintry showers, especially across northern areas. now, for today, we've got high pressure over the near continent. that's keeping things largely fine for england and wales. these weather fronts, though, bringing further cloud, outbreaks of rain, particularly to northern and western scotland. through the afternoon, it will be dry as well for cumbria. could see a little bit of brightness developing here, but generally for scotland, northern ireland, it will stay mostly cloudy. but the air is warm. after that chilly start, particularly for england and wales, we will see those temperatures creep up to around 20 degrees through the afternoon. now, as we head on into this evening and overnight, it stays wet across northern and western scotland. the rain keeps on piling up here, so localised flooding is likely to be risk. further south, you are largely clearer skies and slightly lighter winds. so it's going to be another chilly one here, maybe a touch of frost in some sheltered rural spots with a little bit of mist, but milder further north because of the cloud and the wind. for tuesday, it's a bit of a repeat performance. most of england and wales starting chilly, and then plenty of sunshine, turning very warm into the afternoon. could see a bit of brightness just moving into parts of northern ireland, southern and eastern scotland, but the northwest of scotland remains very wet indeed with the risk of localised flooding. again, mild in the north, but very warm for england and wales, where we could see temperatures reaching 22 or 23 celsius. as we head on into wednesday, again, it's similar for england and wales, a little bit of patchy cloud around, plenty of sunshine, feeling warm, but the colder air starts... to dig into northern scotland throughout wednesday, and here we will have further outbreaks of rain, even wintry—ness over the high ground. so, we will see temperatures between 22—23 degrees in the south, single figure values, though, across the northern half of scotland. and as we move into thursday, then that cold front with the colder air behind it migrates its way southwards. certainly by the end of thursday and into friday, we will all be in that much colder air stream. we will say goodbye to the warmer, orange colours there and it will stay cold even as we had on throughout the easter weekend. we are likely to see some overnight frost and some wintry showers. welcome to this bbc news special on the trial of the police officer accused of murdering george floyd. this is the seen live from inside the court in minneapolis where proceedings are just about to start. george floyd's death prompted an avalanche of protest in the us and around the world. this was the family lawyer in the last hour. today starts a landmark trial that will be a referendum on how far america has come in its quest for equality and justice for all.- equality and 'ustice for all. derek chauvin equality and justice for all. derek chauvin faces _ equality and justice for all. derek chauvin faces three _ equality and justice for all. derek chauvin faces three counts - equality and justice for all. derek chauvin faces three counts of - chauvin faces three counts of second—degree murder, third—degree murder and manslaughter. i'm gary o'donoghue outside the courthouse where the reverend al sharpton has just told the crowd that america itself is on trial. and i am here where theyjust started the day with a prayer service. hello and welcome to a bbc news special programme. it is nearly a year since the death of the black american george floyd, and in the next few minutes the trial will start of derek chauvin, on trial for murder. video shows his knee on george floyd's neck which led to protests replicated around the world. let me show you the scene inside of the courthouse now in minneapolis. there have been legal discussions expected in the next few minutes, thejury discussions expected in the next few minutes, the jury expected to take their seats in around a quarter of an hour. we are expecting opening statements in around 30 minutes. huge focus on this trial in the us, notjust on chauvin but on policing and the issue of race in america. our correspondent are there for the next couple of hours. gary o'donoghue is live at the courthouse. larry is in minneapolis, they will guide us through the opening hours of this trial. i'm alsojoined by the opening hours of this trial. i'm also joined by the minnesota defence attorney and a retired police captain and founder of black police experience. let's start by hearing from george floyd's family and their lawyers are speaking a short while ago. lawyers are speaking a short while auo. , lawyers are speaking a short while am, , ., ., lawyers are speaking a short while auo. , . ., , ~ lawyers are speaking a short while auo. , ., ., , ~ ., ago. this trial of derek chauvin reauardin ago. this trial of derek chauvin regarding the _ ago. this trial of derek chauvin regarding the killing _ ago. this trial of derek chauvin regarding the killing of - ago. this trial of derek chauvin regarding the killing of george| regarding the killing of george floyd on may the 25th, 2020, right here in minneapolis, it will be prima facie evidence whether america is going to live up to the declaration of independence. now i know everybody can quote the declaration of independence, but this trial is going to provide evidence of whether we really believe it when we say we hold these truths to be self—evident that all men are created equally, but there are certain rights that amongst them are certain rights that amongst them are life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. well, america, that means black people too. america, that means george floyd too. those were the scenes _ that means george floyd too. those were the scenes from _ that means george floyd too. those were the scenes from outside - that means george floyd too. those were the scenes from outside the i were the scenes from outside the courthouse in the last few minutes. i'm joined on the programme by captain sonia pruitt, a spokesperson for law enforcement action partnership and alsojohn lesh, alaia, and they will take us through the next couple of hours as we watch the next couple of hours as we watch the openings of the preceding opening statements in the next little while. let's start with our guests, and john, in terms of what you expect evidence of this trial, your early thoughts? this you expect evidence of this trial, your early thoughts?— your early thoughts? this trial is auoin to your early thoughts? this trial is going to be _ your early thoughts? this trial is going to be sprang _ your early thoughts? this trial is going to be sprang in _ your early thoughts? this trial is going to be sprang in two - your early thoughts? this trial is going to be sprang in two ways l going to be sprang in two ways between the prosecution. that video that almost everyone in the world saw that happened almost a year ago is going to be critical for the prosecution. the defence is going to be attempting to cast doubt on the reasons why george floyd died. everyone outside that courtroom has their own expectations about what should happen in there but the entire court room is designed to prevent that outside influence and make a decision only on the facts and the law. make a decision only on the facts and the law— and the law. sonia pruitt, your thoughts? _ and the law. sonia pruitt, your thoughts? how _ and the law. sonia pruitt, your thoughts? how important - and the law. sonia pruitt, your thoughts? how important a i and the law. sonia pruitt, your- thoughts? how important a moment is this, do you think? it is thoughts? how important a moment is this, do you think?— this, do you think? it is a crucial moment in _ this, do you think? it is a crucial moment in american _ this, do you think? it is a crucial moment in american history - this, do you think? it is a crucial| moment in american history and this, do you think? it is a crucial- moment in american history and also black— moment in american history and also black american history. the community has been asking for justice — community has been asking for justice since our ancestors arrived on these — justice since our ancestors arrived on these shores of america, and, you know, _ on these shores of america, and, you know. now— on these shores of america, and, you know. now we — on these shores of america, and, you know, now we are at this moment in time _ know, now we are at this moment in time where — know, now we are at this moment in time where no one can deny what they saw on _ time where no one can deny what they saw on the _ time where no one can deny what they saw on the video tape. so now the question— saw on the video tape. so now the question becomes what type of equity and justice _ question becomes what type of equity and justice will be received at the end of— and justice will be received at the end of this — and justice will be received at the end of this trial? police unions are watching, — end of this trial? police unions are watching, police officers are watching, police officers are watching and certainly the black community and their allies are watching — community and their allies are watching because this is one of the most _ watching because this is one of the most important moments in our time. we are _ most important moments in our time. we are just _ most important moments in our time. we are just looking to make sure thatjustice is served. of course officer— thatjustice is served. of course officer chauvin, we want him to have due process — officer chauvin, we want him to have due process but you cannot ignore what _ due process but you cannot ignore what you — due process but you cannot ignore what you saw on the video tape. stay with us because _ what you saw on the video tape. stay with us because i _ what you saw on the video tape. fits with us because i will what you saw on the video tape. 5t sharpton who spoke about it as a lynching by knee. he said it may be derek chauvin on trial but america itself was on trial more broadly. some powerful emotions expressed and some testaments from his family, brothers and cousins present here too. thejury brothers and cousins present here too. the jury will come brothers and cousins present here too. thejury will come into court, the opening statements will begin, maybe an hour each, we are not entirely sure. some big questions unanswered. we'll derek chauvin himself testify? will we hearfrom him? wejust don't himself testify? will we hearfrom him? we just don't know that at this stage in time. and to what extent will each side try and make race a part of this whole process? what will the arguments be around race? because the rest of the world thinks this is a trial about race but will we hear that reflected in the court room itself? gary o'donoghue there in minneapolis, thanks very much for now. as we were saying, george floyd's death set in motion the biggest protests seen in the us since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. derek chauvin is charged with two counts of murder and one of manslaughter. this report from minneapolis. a life memorialised by a community that cannot forget the pain of what happened here almost a year ago is still visible. this is where george floyd lay dying, a policeman kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes as mr floyd repeatedly said, "i can't breathe." today that former officer, derek chauvin, goes on trial for george floyd's death. he is charged with two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter. at first, minneapolis police said mr floyd had been resisting arrest. but the video seemed to tell a different story. chauvin was arrested. the images of george floyd on the ground begging for his life ripped open america's unhealed wounds on race and how black americans are policed. people took to the streets in cities across this country, sparking the biggest protest movement since the civil rights days. the events engulfed the white house and reverberated across the world, forcing a global reckoning on racism. nojustice, no peace! prosecute the police! for people in minneapolis, the start of the trial brings both hope and trepidation. this is not the first, you know, incidence of police brutality that has never seenjustice, so i'm optimistic, but also i don't get my hopes up too high. i wantjustice to be served, but i don't know for sure if that will happen. and if it doesn't, ijust fear the reactions and the kickback that might happen. what do we want? justice! when do we want it? now! — this is the first time that a white police officer in this state will stand trial for the murder of a black person. chauvin's lawyer will argue that this trial is not about race, but for many, it is about the value of a black life in america. security across the city has been stepped up. barricades and fencing surround the court. applause on the eve of the trial, a vigil with george floyd's family. it shouldn't be two laws, it shouldn't be two justice systems. it should be one for white america, it should be one for black america. we are one. a moment to pause and reflect on what might lie ahead. lebo diseko, bbc news, minneapolis. let's head to larry madowo in george floyd square. give me a sense how this trial is being viewed on the ground. this trial is being viewed on the round. ., ._ , ., ., ._ ground. you, the day started today with a prayer _ ground. you, the day started today with a prayer service, _ ground. you, the day started today with a prayer service, they - ground. you, the day started today with a prayer service, they prayed l with a prayer service, they prayed for thejudge, thejury and justice. for the judge, the jury and justice. this for thejudge, thejury and justice. this place is where it all started. this place is where it all started. this is ground zero, the place where george floyd was filmed for more than nine minutes asking for help and not receiving it, and the people who have turned this into a memorial say they will keep this place is a peaceful memorial to his memory, to honour his memory. and every single black member of the public here in minneapolis i have spoken to does not expect justice. minneapolis i have spoken to does not expectjustice. a lot of people in the community think the jury being very diverse as it is will deliverjustice, but many people do not expect to get any justice from this trial because they have been here before and it did not end in a conviction, and they think this is the same thing that will happen with the same thing that will happen with the trial of derek chauvin. thea;r the trial of derek chauvin. they want accountability, _ the trial of derek chauvin. they want accountability, they - the trial of derek chauvin. they want accountability, they also, and we heard it in some of those speeches outside the court, they want fundamental changes in america, certainly around policing. how much is actually changed in the year? that was some promise at the beginning of these protests in the summer when the city of minneapolis voted to defund the police. that has since essentially fallen apart, the activist in this community who are hoping to reimagining what policing looks like, so when there is a call when someone is having a mental health emergency to provide all support other than police which is what often happens in america, and they are disappointed that didn't happen. so policing in minneapolis has not changed much. they diverted $8 million away from policing services into other mental health services, but there why they defund police movement they were hoping could be a model for other american cities and the way black america is policed, thatjust didn't work cities and the way black america is policed, that just didn't work and it's been a huge disappointment to a lot of people here.— lot of people here. larry, we will be back with _ lot of people here. larry, we will be back with you _ lot of people here. larry, we will be back with you in _ lot of people here. larry, we will be back with you in the _ lot of people here. larry, we will be back with you in the next - lot of people here. larry, we will| be back with you in the next little while. let's go back to my guests, john lesch and sonia pruitt. thank you both once again for being here with us. john, to you first of all because we are not that far away from opening statements. how important is that first stage? it’s important is that first stage? it�*s everything. the percentage ofjurors who make their decisions are simply after opening statements, after the attorneys are only allowed to say what they expect, the evidence has shown the percentage ofjurors who make their decisions after that is very high. the attorneys can only say the evidence that hasn't already been excluded of course, but it is a big deal. it is not argument. the court says this is not an argument, but many people treat it as argument and quite frankly the jury listens closely to it as if it were argument so it is a critical stage, opening statements. so it is a critical stage, opening statements-— so it is a critical stage, opening statements. . , . ., ., statements. and the prosecution have to rove statements. and the prosecution have to prove this — statements. and the prosecution have to prove this beyond _ statements. and the prosecution have to prove this beyond reasonable - to prove this beyond reasonable doubt. you have said normally the burden is in the favour of the defence, but with compelling evidence like video here, that shifts a bit. just explain a little more. . shifts a bit. just explain a little more. , ., , �* ., , more. the burden doesn't legally shift, but when _ more. the burden doesn't legally shift, but when you _ more. the burden doesn't legally shift, but when you have - more. the burden doesn't legally shift, but when you have got - more. the burden doesn't legally shift, but when you have got the | shift, but when you have got the video as compelling as that is with a white officer kneeling on the neck of a black man for almost nine minutes watching him die, nojuror escapes the impact of that. and it's notjust because this is one of the most diverse juries that i have seen in a felony case in state minnesota, the state is 83% white, it is a very diverse jury, the state is 83% white, it is a very diversejury, no one can the state is 83% white, it is a very diverse jury, no one can escape the impact of that. but also do not forget the fact that a man has died, and jurors, forget the fact that a man has died, andjurors, no forget the fact that a man has died, and jurors, no matter how much they are told to only make decisions about facts and the law, are not going to forget that a man has died. so while it doesn't legally shift the burden, the defence will be on their toes to give them a reasonable doubt. and that word reason is different after they have watched the video and after they know a man has died. . , , ., has died. son'a, let me bring you win, and has died. son'a, let me bring you win. and you — has died. sonja, let me bring you win, and you set _ has died. sonja, let me bring you win, and you set up _ has died. sonja, let me bring you win, and you set up black- has died. sonja, let me bring you win, and you set up black police i win, and you set up black police experience, tell me why you set that up. experience, tell me why you set that u -. ~ experience, tell me why you set that u . _ . , . ., , experience, tell me why you set that up. well, because, blackout officers -- black officers. — up. well, because, blackout officers -- black officers, we _ up. well, because, blackout officers -- black officers, we have _ up. well, because, blackout officers -- black officers, we have our- up. well, because, blackout officers -- black officers, we have our own l —— black officers, we have our own experience — —— black officers, we have our own experience that can c situations like this— experience that can c situations like this during different lens. one of the _ like this during different lens. one of the situations we have been talking — of the situations we have been talking about is the fact that we keep— talking about is the fact that we keep hearing this is the george floyd _ keep hearing this is the george floyd trial, this is not the george floyd _ floyd trial, this is not the george floyd trial. — floyd trial, this is not the george floyd trial, this is not the george floyd trial, this is not the george floyd trial, this is the derek chauvin— floyd trial, this is the derek chauvin trial, so we are here to make _ chauvin trial, so we are here to make those _ chauvin trial, so we are here to make those distinctions for community and for the public. be clear— community and for the public. be clear about — community and for the public. be clear about what this is about. there — clear about what this is about. there are _ clear about what this is about. there are efforts to put george floyd _ there are efforts to put george floyd 's — there are efforts to put george floyd 's criminal record on background, but derek chauvin was not a _ background, but derek chauvin was not a model police officer. he had a number— not a model police officer. he had a number of— not a model police officer. he had a number of complaints prior to this incidence — number of complaints prior to this incidence and one of those was where he placed _ incidence and one of those was where he placed his knee on the neck of a grown _ he placed his knee on the neck of a grown woman. so if we are going to talk about— grown woman. so if we are going to talk about equity, let's be fair. i mentioned — talk about equity, let's be fair. i mentioned earlier that police unions are looking — mentioned earlier that police unions are looking at this trial. well, the state _ are looking at this trial. well, the state police union and minnesota actuatiy — state police union and minnesota actually helped to find it offensive eternity— actually helped to find it offensive eternity -- — actually helped to find it offensive eternity —— to find the defence attorney — eternity —— to find the defence attorney for the trial, because we are wondering when things are going to change _ are wondering when things are going to change and when are we going to stop talking about calling police officers — stop talking about calling police officers bad apples if we are supporting the bad apples. and on that oint, supporting the bad apples. and on that point, campaigners _ supporting the bad apples. and on that point, campaigners often - supporting the bad apples. and on that point, campaigners often say| that point, campaigners often say there's not enough accountability for police officers and is very difficult to actually get a conviction. too often the jury come down the favour of the notion that the officer felt that their lives were under threat. do you under stand, do you share those concerns? police officers have not been historically are traditionally trained _ historically are traditionally trained for anything other than surviving _ trained for anything other than surviving. the training does not talk about— surviving. the training does not talk about everyone going home at the end _ talk about everyone going home at the end of— talk about everyone going home at the end of the day. and what is missing — the end of the day. and what is missing in _ the end of the day. and what is missing in the incidents that we have _ missing in the incidents that we have been— missing in the incidents that we have been talking about such as george — have been talking about such as george floyd, even in eric garner or waiter— george floyd, even in eric garner or walter scott — george floyd, even in eric garner or walter scott is the humanity, where is it that _ walter scott is the humanity, where is it that the police officer sees george — is it that the police officer sees george floyd as a human being? george _ george floyd as a human being? george floyd as a human being? george floyd was objectified, he was dehumanized and it made it very easy for a police _ dehumanized and it made it very easy for a police officer to place his knee — for a police officer to place his knee on— for a police officer to place his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes— knee on his neck for almost nine minutes while he was saying i cannot breathe _ minutes while he was saying i cannot breathe and — minutes while he was saying i cannot breathe and calling for his mother. and just _ breathe and calling for his mother. and just put his hands in his pockets _ and just put his hands in his pockets and look away. and and just put his hands in his pockets and look away. and that is what we heard _ pockets and look away. and that is what we heard from _ pockets and look away. and that is what we heard from the _ pockets and look away. and that is what we heard from the family - what we heard from the family lawyer, benjamin crump, outside of the courthouse saying it is not a difficult trial, really slapping down the notion that this is a hard trial. he said simply look at the video. john, let me bring you back in, because in terms of the charges against derek chauvin, he faces three charges and just explain for us in terms of how the case will map out why there are a variety of charges. out why there are a variety of charaes. . out why there are a variety of charaes. , ., ., , charges. first, count one is second-degree _ charges. first, count one is second-degree murder, i charges. first, count one is| second-degree murder, but second—degree murder, but second—degree murder, but second—degree unintentional murder, which some law students call felony murder, typically thought of if you rob a bank and in the ensuing car chase somebody dies, that is a foreseeable result that committing a dangerous felony related to bank robbing, you will be charged with second—degree unintentional felony murder. the doctor inserted in the english courts, but in this case track the doctrine started in the english courts, and their saying that the crime that matt committed is assault. and because of that assault that derek chauvin committed, that is third—degree assault, the prerequisite felony, then they charged with murder. it is a very controversial use of second—degree murder, but it is on the table nonetheless. they do need to show that derek chauvin intended to show that derek chauvin intended to cause fear or bodily harm, and notjust to cause fear or bodily harm, and not just follow the police procedures on that. that is why in my opinion it is going to be a little bit more difficult to show that intent as opposed to a depraved mind, which leads us to count number two, third—degree murder. they need to show, the state needs to show, that derek chauvin was in a depraved mind with his actions that resulted in death and that a man died. the third count is second—degree manslaughter. it is not terribly different from third—degree murder and involves recklessness, the reckless endangerment of somebody�*s life resulting in death. so the last two counts are similar and i would note that in this case this trial is different from so many of those previous trials of police officers because sonja is right, historically in minnesota and other states you have been allowed to say, i feared for my life and that is why i use deadly force. but this trial, as well as the trial two years ago when a police officer was convicted of third—degree murder in minnesota, it is going to be really difficult for them to use that defence that police officers have traditionally used, that i feared for my life. how can you say after watching the video that derek chauvin feared for his life? that is going to be a high burden to reach, which is why the burden to reach, which is why the burden is a bit different in this case. 1 ., , ._ burden is a bit different in this case. 1 ., , .,1 burden is a bit different in this case. 1 ., , ., ~ burden is a bit different in this case.1 , ., case. john, stay there, thank you very much _ case. john, stay there, thank you very much for— case. john, stay there, thank you very much for now _ case. john, stay there, thank you very much for now and _ case. john, stay there, thank you very much for now and thank - case. john, stay there, thank you very much for now and thank you | case. john, stay there, thank you i very much for now and thank you to sonia. we will possible tear because john finishes that point by talking about the video, point to bring in our next item because of video of the death was caught on camera and sparked widespread protests against police brutality and for racial justice. our north america correspondent reports now, one of the most important trials in us history. it sparked a mobilisation of people the likes of which has never been seen. the killing compelled americans to take a look, not just at the issue of compelled americans to take a look, notjust at the issue of police brutality, but systemic racism in all its guises. my my daddy change the world, said george floyd's daughter, and politicians and corporations promised to deliver. but when the spotlight shifted, what did change? a lot of people like to talk about change like things are burning down and people are breaking into malls and people are breaking into malls and protests every night and people are burning down restaurants, when all of that dies down, the call for change dies down also, unfortunately.- change dies down also, unfortunately. change dies down also, unfortunatel . . , unfortunately. and black men continue to _ unfortunately. and black men continue to die _ unfortunately. and black men continue to die at _ unfortunately. and black men continue to die at the - unfortunately. and black men continue to die at the hands l unfortunately. and black men | continue to die at the hands of unfortunately. and black men - continue to die at the hands of the police. at this site just two weeks after george floyd was killed... i after george floyd was killed... i don't want to refuse anything. after george floyd was killed... i i don't want to refuse anything. this man was reported _ don't want to refuse anything. try 3 man was reported sleeping in his vehicle in a restaurant car park and was shot in the black by police —— and was shot in the back by police as he ran away. for many activists, the focus of frustration became the government of donald trump, as george floyd's nephew told me last year. we demand change, so this is what is a happen, we need to vote him out. and the elections in georgia, the turnout of black voters is credited with helping flip the state to democratic. brute is credited with helping flip the state to democratic.— is credited with helping flip the state to democratic. we were all olitcised state to democratic. we were all politcised at _ state to democratic. we were all politcised at that _ state to democratic. we were all politcised at that moment - state to democratic. we were all politcised at that moment and i state to democratic. we were all. politcised at that moment and many peopie _ politcised at that moment and many people actually decided they were going _ people actually decided they were going to _ people actually decided they were going to turn that pain into power. from _ going to turn that pain into power. from the _ going to turn that pain into power. from the minute... it starts with the boat. — from the minute... it starts with the boat, but not because we are asking _ the boat, but not because we are asking them to believe in the system. _ asking them to believe in the system, but getting them to use that and believe in themselves. some states did introduce _ and believe in themselves. some states did introduce changes - and believe in themselves. some states did introduce changes to l and believe in themselves. sf“- states did introduce changes to the body cameras or banning the use of choke holds, this was no universal branch reform. many police here feel they have been unfairly targeted since last summer, is insisting they're not systemic issues with racism and excessive force. and just because some of those who represent officers when they are killed, they question the fundamentals of this case. . ., , ., , case. the central question here is not aoian case. the central question here is rrot going to _ case. the central question here is rrot going to be — case. the central question here is not going to be whether- case. the central question here is not going to be whether he - case. the central question here is not going to be whether he used l case. the central question here is| not going to be whether he used a tactic— not going to be whether he used a tactic that — not going to be whether he used a tactic that was not recognised by law enforcement, we have already condemned it, the question is what caused _ condemned it, the question is what caused george floyd's death. there are very few — caused george floyd's death. there are very few people _ caused george floyd's death. there are very few people that _ caused george floyd's death. there are very few people that feel - caused george floyd's death. ii�*!!** are very few people that feel that he would have died... i are very few people that feel that he would have died. . ._ are very few people that feel that he would have died... i don't agree with ou. he would have died... i don't agree with you- a — he would have died... i don't agree with you. a sense _ he would have died. .. i don't agree with you. a sense of— he would have died... i don't agree with you. a sense of how _ he would have died. .. i don't agree with you. a sense of how derek- with you. a sense of how derek chauvin's _ with you. a sense of how derek chauvin's defence _ with you. a sense of how derek chauvin's defence will - with you. a sense of how derek chauvin's defence will play - with you. a sense of how derek. chauvin's defence will play things over the few weeks. george floyd's daughter says that it did change things, calls foraction, but daughter says that it did change things, calls for action, but the trial is going to expose the fact that if not everyone is accepted, things need to change. let me take you inside of the courthouse now, becausejust in courthouse now, because just in the last few seconds, the picture going to thejudge taking last few seconds, the picture going to the judge taking us through proceedings and the oath being administered. we have thejury being seated, they will remain anonymous and off—camera. 15 potentialjurors, 14 will actually sit in the case, two alternates and the 12 member jury, one of those 15jurors will be dismissed in the next few minutes. so i think that is the process we are going to go through in the next three minutes. let's put the sound up three minutes. let's put the sound up for the next two minutes. if three minutes. let's put the sound up for the next two minutes. if you suffer from — up for the next two minutes. if you suffer from some _ up for the next two minutes. if you suffer from some hearing - up for the next two minutes. if you suffer from some hearing loss - up for the next two minutes. if you suffer from some hearing loss and | suffer from some hearing loss and would benefit from amplified sound, please raise your hand now, i want to make sure that you get a hearing assistance device. no hands. if during the trial at any time you have difficulty hearing or understanding what the witness is saying... studio: just the opening remarks, we are expecting the actual proceedings with the opening statements in the next five minutes or so. and we will obviously be back inside court to hear that. there we see r and his lawyer seated there —— derek chauvin and his lawyer, three cans he bases, and his lawyer, three cans he bases, and we were hearing from our correspondent talking about that video and george floyd's brother in the last hour has been outside of the last hour has been outside of the courthouse before proceeding started, joining with the family lawyer to speak to the assembled media. let's hear a little of what he has been saying in the last bit. i was watching the video, not to get myself furious, but that was the last time i could hear his voice. you know, so i watched it, i watched it... every time i watched it, it seemed like itjust may be stronger because i knew, yeah, they murdered him, but we are still floyd strong and we are still here. so we are going to hold it down for him. they say trust the system, they want us to trust the system, well, this is your chance to show us that we can trust the. . ., , , ., your chance to show us that we can trust the. . .,, , ., �*, trust the. that was george floyd's brother in the _ trust the. that was george floyd's brother in the last _ trust the. that was george floyd's brother in the last half-hour- trust the. that was george floyd's brother in the last half-hour let'sl brother in the last half—hour let's go back inside the courthouse. that go back inside the courthouse. 1th the end of the trial, you will be allowed to take your notes with you into the liberation and i will instruct you further regarding the use of those notes at the end of the trial. keep in mind also that i cannot give you a trial transcript at the end of the trial. no such transcript can be prepared for your deliberation. thejury transcript can be prepared for your deliberation. the jury can transcript can be prepared for your deliberation. thejury can rely transcript can be prepared for your deliberation. the jury can rely on its collective memory and the exhibits. during the trial, an objection may be made some evidence and i may sustain or overrule the objection. if i sustain the objection, it means that the question may not be answered. in that case, you should ignore the question and any answer that might�*ve been given. if no answer was given before the objection was made, you should not speculate on what the possible answer might have been. similarly, by instructor during the trial to disregard a statement that a witness or attorney has made —— if i instruct you to disregard it, you must. ifi overrule the objection, the question may be answered and not case you should treat it like any other answer. similarly, ifan should treat it like any other answer. similarly, if an exhibit is received despite and objection, you should treat it like any other evidence. from time to time, the attorneys will need to discuss issues of law or scheduling matter with me. if these are brief, we will use the wireless headset while white noise zone. if the discussions are lengthier, i may take a recess. we are not attempting to conceal anything from bu which is necessary for you to hear. i ask that you be patient when we have these discussions, and as an aside, we are scheduled to have the time between 8:30am and 9:30am set aside for the lawyers to argue legal issues, so hopefully we can handle that before we start again at 9:30am. now, when i turn on the white noise, that is your indication that the conversation is not for you, so, please, do not attempt to listen and and please come to order when i turn the white noise off. i'm also giving instructions to anybody who is a spectator here, white noise is a private conversation, usually about scheduling, nothing exciting, between me and the attorneys. you can use that opportunity, however, if you would like, to stand up, stretch, talk to your neighbour, but if you could, make sure you do not... there is a piece of tape in front of you, do not cross that line, we have taken great care to make sure you are never on camera. as long as he stayed behind that black line and you can stretch in the aisle between, you should be fine. the cameras have angles so you will never appear on video. do not cross the black tape and when entering and departing the courtroom, please use the aisle between the two rows of seats and do not get out of your seat until you are being escorted back to the other room. things you should not do during this trial. you are not investigators. you are not to ask people about this. you are not to use the internet to look for information about this case or the law. you should avoid all news if possible, but at the very least you should avoid media coverage of this case. remember, you must not talk to anybody involved in the case. the attorneys, the witnesses or spectators. do not be offended if they don't speak to you. they know it would be improper to contact you during trial and will confine themselves to a brief greeting. you should not discuss the case among yourselves. at the end of the trial yourselves. at the end of the trial you will have as much time as you need to discuss but that is at the end and not during the trial. you can talk to each other, just don't talk about the case. when you go home during the trial, family and friends will be curious as to what you are doing, you may tell them you are sitting as a juror in a criminal case and that is all you should tell them. i have to be realistic and tell you that you can tell your immediate family and household what you are doing because they will probably have figured it out by now but in any case feel free to share with them but no one else. as i stated before, since this is all you should tell family and friends, this is all you should tell the general public so refrain from using facebook, twitter or any other social media to comment on this child. you may access such tools but please do not publish any information about this case or your thoughts about this case. please avoid news coverage as i said about this case, whether it is in newspapers, on radio to, television or social media. please disable any newsfeeds that may show up that reports on this case. this is being televised but you will not be shown on the video. there are certain things you should do during trial and first of all is to be on time to report for court. we cannot begin unless every participant is present. while mating for court to begin, please wait in the other court room until one of my clerks brings you into this court room. as i have said, the time we have set aside for the lawyers and i had to discuss legal issues from 8.30 tp 9.30 means we will start at 9:30am every day. generally we will have a 20 minute mid—morning break and we will take your orders for lunch because we will be providing you lunch throughout. court will usually start again at 1:30pm or throughout. court will usually start again at1:30pm or2pm throughout. court will usually start again at 1:30pm or 2pm and go on until about 4:30pm or 5pm with a mid—afternoon break. to some extent this may seem leisurely but before and after court and during breaks attorneys are preparing for the next session of court. please turn off all electronic devices such as cell phones and computers while the court is in session. you may use such devices outside of this court room when you are on a break but please remember to turn them off while in this court room. i will allow you to bring water, coffee or other beverages with you during the trial, but to keep noisy distractions to a minimum please open any containers before we resume cord and not while evidence is being taken. if the problem should arise during trial, or you observe what you might be improper conduct and you need to bring this to my attention, please contact mike like or one of the deputies. they will communicate your concerns to me and we will do our best to handle the situation. make a mental note of the scene in which you are sitting right now and please keep that seat throughout the trial. we will begin with opening statements, and the attorneys may describe for you what they believe the evidence in this case will be. evidence is what the witnesses say and any exhibits submitted to you. what the attorneys say however is not evidence. anything shown to you in opening statements is also not evidence unless and until it's actually received in evidence in the trial. you should keep an open mind about all the evidence until the end of the trial until you have heard the final arguments of the attorneys and until i have instructed you on the law. it goes without saying that this case is important to all the participants, and you should give your undivided attention while trial is in session. i thank you in advance for your service and taking on your role as jurors you provide an important central service in the administration ofjustice. mr administration of justice. mr blackwell, administration ofjustice. mr blackwell, do you wish to open? you may proceed. instructions and directions to the jurors there from the judge. very quickly, it is worth just telling you as viewers these are live proceedings from minneapolis. at different stages perhaps they will be distressing material shown to jurors. we are expecting of course that video to be shown to the jury perhaps in this opening statement so beware of that as you watch these proceedings live from the courthouse. it proceedings live from the courthouse.— proceedings live from the courthouse. , , 1 courthouse. it is probably the least ofthe courthouse. it is probably the least of the rifts courthouse. it is probably the least of the gifts the _ courthouse. it is probably the least of the gifts the pandemic _ courthouse. it is probably the least of the gifts the pandemic has - courthouse. it is probably the leastj of the gifts the pandemic has given us. you are going to learn in this case a lot about what it means to be a public servant and to have the honour of wearing this badge. it's a small badge, it carries with it a large responsibility and a large accountability to the public. what does it stand for? it represents the very motto of the minneapolis police department to protect with coverage, to serve with compassion, but it also represents the essence of the minneapolis police department approach to the use of force against its citizens when appropriate. the sanctity of life and the protection of the public shall be the cornerstones of the minneapolis police department's use of force. compassion, sanctity of life, cornerstones in that little badge is worn right over the officer's hard. what you will also learn that the officers take an oath when they become police officers. they take an oath that i will enforce the law courteously and appropriately, and as you will learn, is a to this case, never employing unnecessary force or violence. and not only that, i recognise the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and i accept it as a public trust to be held so long as i am true to the ethics of police service. a symbol of public faith, ethics to police service, sanctity of life, all of this matters tremendously to this case because you will learn that on may the 25th of 2020, mr derek chauvin betrayed this badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of mr george floyd. that he put his knee upon his neck and his back, grinding and crushing him until the very breath... no, ladies and gentlemen, until the very life was squeezed out of him. you will learn that he was well aware that mr floyd was unarmed, that mr floyd had not threatened anyone, that mr floyd was in handcuffs, he was completely in the control of the police, he was defenceless. you will learn what happened in that nine minutes and 29 seconds, the most important numbers you will hear in this trial, what happened in those nine minutes and 29 seconds when mr derek chauvin was applying this excessive force of the body of mr george floyd. we have two objectives in this trial, ladies and gentlemen. the first objective is to give mr chauvin a fair trial. mr chauvin has a presumption of innocence, he is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. we plan to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that mr chauvin was anything other than innocent on may the 25th of 2020. and our second objective is to bring you the evidence which i'm trying to preview this morning. we are bringing this case is prosecution against mr chauvin for the excessive force that he applied onto the body of mr george floyd for engaging in behaviour that was imminently dangerous in the force he applied without regard for its impact on the life of mr george floyd. so let's begin by focusing on what we will learn about this nine minutes and 29 seconds, you will be able to hear mr floyd saying, please, i can't breathe. in this nine minutes and 29 seconds, you will see that as mr floyd is handcuffed on the ground he has verbalised 27 times in the and 45 seconds, "i can't breathe, please, i can't breathe." you will see that mr chauvin is kneeling on his neck and back, he has a knee on his neck and back, he has a knee on his neck and back, he has a knee on his neck as you will be able to see for yourself in the video footage. he will hear mr floyd as he is crying out, you hear him at some point cry out for his mother when he is being squeezed. he's very close to his mother, you will learn. you will hear him saying, tell my kids i love them. you will hear him say about his fear of dying. he says, i will probably die this way. i'm through, i'm through, they are going to kill me. you will hear cry out in pain. "my stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts." you will hear that for yourself. please, hurts, everything hurts." you will hearthat foryourself. please, i can't breathe, please, your knee on my neck and mr chauvin never moves. the sunglasses remain undisturbed on his head and itjust goes on. you will hear his final words when he says i can't breathe. before that time you will hear his voice get heavier, you will hear his words further apart, you will see that his respiration gets shallower and shallower and finally stops when he speaks his last words. i can't breathe. and once we have his final words, you will see that he's completely silent and virtually motionless with sporadic movements. you will learn those sporadic movements matter greatly in this case what they reflect... mr floyd was no longer breathing when he's making these movements. you will learn about something in this case called anoxic seizure, it is the body's automatic reflex when breathing has stopped due to oxygen deprivation. you will see the voluntary movements that are part of anoxic seizure, and you will learn about something called agh and no breathing when the heart has stopped, when blood is no longer coursing through the veins, you will hear the body gasp as an involuntary reflex. we will point out to you when mr floyd is having the agano breathing. so we here at some point mr floyd is completely passed out. mr chauvin continues with the knee on the neck and back and does not get up for the remaining three minutes and 51 seconds. during this period of time, you will learn that mr chauvin is told that they can't even find a pulse on mr floyd. you will learn he is told that twice, they can't even find a pulse. you will be able to see for yourself what he does in response, you will see that he does not let up and he does not get up. even when mr floyd does not even have a pulse he continues on. he continues on, ladies and gentlemen, even after the ambulance arrives on the scene. the ambulance is there and you will be able to see for yourself what mr chauvin is doing when the ambulance is there. you will be able to compare how he looks in this photograph compared to how he looked in the first four minutes and 45 seconds. same position, doesn't let up and doesn't get up. the paramedic comes over, you will be able to see this in the video, he checks makes their floyd —— mr floyd for a pulse width mr chauvin continuing to remain on his body at the same time, does not even get up when the paramedic comes over to check for a pulse and does not find one. mr chauvin does not get up. you'll see the paramedics have taken the gurney out of the ambulance, have rolled over next to the body and you will see mr chauvin still does not get up. and you will see it was not until such time as they want to move the lifeless body of george floyd onto the gurney, only then does mr chauvin get up and drag the body and, unceremoniously, casted onto the gurney. and that was for a total of four minutes and 44 seconds. you can see here that for the first four minutes and 45 seconds you learned that mr floyd was crying for his life. notjust mr floyd, you're going to hear and see that there were any number of bystanders who were also calling out to let up and get up, such that mr floyd would be able to breathe and to maintain and sustain his life. but then for the remaining four minutes and 44 seconds, mr floyd was either unconscious, breathless or without her. . —— without a pulse, and this went on the same for a total of nine minutes and 29 seconds. you're going to learn in this case quite a lot about the minneapolis police department's use of force policy. you're going to see and learn a lot about the standard for applying force against individuals, the use of force policy. you'll learn that minneapolis police department employee shall only use the amount of force that is objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances, the force used shall be consistent with current minneapolis police department training. what you'll learn it so that the use of force must be evaluated from one moment to the next moment, from moment to moment. what may be reasonable in the first minute may not be reasonable in the second minute, the fourth minute, or the ninth minute and 29 seconds, that has to be evaluated from moment to moment. you also learn that the minneapolis police are precluded, not allowed to use any more force than necessary to bring a person under their control. they cannot use any more restraint than is necessary. you're going to meet an expert, jodi seger, use of force expert, jodi seger, use of force expert from the los angeles police department and he is going to tell you that the force that mr chauvin was using was lethal force, force that was capable of killing a human and or putting his or her life in danger. the evidence is going to show you that there was no cause in the first place to use lethal force against the man who was defenseless, handcuffed, who is not resisting, there was no cause to use of force in the first place. you're going to hearfrom minneapolis in the first place. you're going to hear from minneapolis police sergeant who is going to come and talk with the. he was the officer on the scene, he arrived after this take place, he is going to tell you that the force against mr floyd should have ended as soon as they put him on the ground in the first place. meaning that the nine .29 should not have even been one, much less 9.29, and that went on for way too long, he will tell you in terms of the restraint on the ground and the manner of the restraint of mr floyd. you also learn about another very important policy in the minneapolis police department, a core principle of policing, you hear this phrase that police have to live by in terms of how they relate to the public. in your custody is in your care, in your custody is in your care, in your custody is in your care, in your custody is in your care, meaning that if you as an officer had an individual that is in your custody, it is your duty to care for that person and you will learn that caring is not a feeling, is a verb. it is something you are supposed to do to provide care for that person. you're going to hear from any number of police officers who will talk about this duty to provide care, nicole mckenzie, the minneapolis police department medical support coordinator. you will hear from medical support coordinator. you will hearfrom a medical support coordinator. you will hear from a sergeant, medical support coordinator. you will hearfrom a sergeant, the medical support coordinator. you will hear from a sergeant, the m medical support coordinator. you will hearfrom a sergeant, the m pd, crisis intervention court later. in your custody is in your care. you'll learn that when mr floyd was unconscious, that when he was breathless, when he did not have a pulse that there was a duty to have administered care, to let up and get up, you will learn. you listen to minneapolis police commander, katie blackwell, no relation to my lounge, and she will tell you about the training that mr chauvin received. you are going to hear that he is a veteran on a minneapolis police department for many years, trained in cpr multiple times. you will be able to see for yourself that when mr floyd was in distress, mr chauvin would not help them, did not help them, but you also see that he stopped anybody else from being able to help. you'll learn amongst the bystanders was a first responder, a member of the minneapolis fire department, who was trained administering first aid and emergency care, she will come and talk with you. she wanted to check his pulse, she wanted to check on his pulse, she wanted to check on his well—being, she wanted him to let up and get up and she did her best to intervene and to be able to act and interceding on behalf of george floyd and you will see when she approached mr chauvin on top of george floyd reached for the mace in his belt when she approached. she will come and talk with you about that experience. you will learn that in the aftermath of this that mr chauvin's last day of employment with the minneapolis police department was on may 26 of 2020. the minneapolis chief of police is going to come here to talk with you. he was the police chief at the time, the chief today. he is going to tell you that mr chauvin's conduct was not consistent with minneapolis police department training, was not consistent with minneapolis police department policy, was not reflective of the minneapolis police department. he is very clear, he will be very decisive that this was excessive force. so ultimately, ladies and gentlemen, what was this all about in the first place? you are going to learn that it was about are going to learn that it was about a counterfeit $20 bill used at a convenience store, that is all. you will not hear any evidence that mr floyd knew that it was fake or did it on purpose. you will learn from witnesses we will call that the police officers could have written him a ticket and let the courts sorted out. you will learn that even if he did it on purpose, it was a minor offence. in terms of the charges that we are bringing, we are going to prove to you that mr chauvin's conduct was a substantial cause of mr floyd's death. we have charged him with murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and manslaughter for using excessive force against george floyd. you'll learn that the use of excessive and unreasonable force against citizen is an assault. in this case we will show you that this was an assault that contributed to taking his life. we are going to shade up putting knees on somebody�*s neck, putting a knee on his back was a dangerous activity and he did it without regard to what impact it had on mr floyd's life. we are going to show you that also. putting him on the ground, on your stomach, face down, putting him in that position handcuffed like this in the first place was uncalled for and was an excessive use of force, let alone for nine minutes and 29 seconds. how are we going to prove these charges? we are going to prove it, first and foremost, by witness testimony. we are going to bring in some of the bystanders that i referred to, normal people, to tell you what they saw, why they stopped, why they were concerned, we will bring them in here. you are going to hearfrom any number of police officers responsible for training, responsible for training, responsible for training, responsible for what the officers learn around first—aid, coming to the care of others. we will bring in a number of police officers, including the chief of police, but we will also bring in various professionals and experts, medical experts, experts in police conduct. you will meet any number of them. you will meet any number of them. you will meet any number of them. you will have a forensic pathologist, doctor thomas, who studies the tissues of the deceased as a forensic pathologist to determine the cause and manner of death. you will hear from a pulmonologist who is also a cardiologist, critical care physician, emergency care, internal medicine, and also from toxicology. we will also bring in the court doctor andrew baker. the head of the county medical examiner who will tell you about what he found. we will also bring him in. we will also bring in experts who will prove that the use of force here was not reasonable. i mentioned earlier the chief of staff for the la police department, and seth, you will hear from both of them. i spent a few minutes talking to you about what this case is about. there are any number of things that this case is not about, may be an infinite number of things, but one of the things that it of things, but one of the things thatitis of things, but one of the things that it is not about is that all police are all policing. you'll learn from the chief when he comes that police officers have different jobs —— difficultjobs, they have to make split—second decisions, sometimes life and death, in this trial you'll meet any number of the men and women from the minneapolis police department could do a fantasticjob. they commit, they take very seriously the sanctity of life, i mentioned katie blackwell, officer nicole mckenzie, to name a few. this case is about mr derek chauvin, not about all policing. this is not about split second decision making, and nine minutes and 29 seconds or 479 seconds, not a split second among them. that is what this case is about. you will hear from one of the bystanders, what this case is about. you will hearfrom one of the bystanders, and charles is going to talk to you about the excessive force that he saw mr chauvin displaying on may 25 and he will tell you what he experienced in the way that mr chauvin looked at him and the other bystanders who were calling out for mr floyd's life. he will tell you what he saw in terms of mr chauvin never letting up or getting up on his body. you will be able to observe mr chauvin's body language for yourself in the video and determine what that language says to you. so i'm going to show you in a moment one of the videos that you're going to see in this trial, just to give you what the essence will be of what we are focused on in the trial. i need to tell your head of time that the video is graphic and it can be difficult to watch, but that is the nature of what we're dealing a mistrial. you will see any numbers of videos from the police officers who had body cameras on, but you also see videos from the bystanders, normal people. you will see these bystanders, a bouquet of humanity, you will see a little girl who is wearing a green shirt on the right with the words love on the green shirt. i will not say her name now because she is a minor, but she will come and talk to you about what she saw. next to her in the blue pants is her cousin, who at the time was also a minor, so i will not tell you her name but she will also come in and talk to you. the cousin was taking the younger one to be able to pick up candy and snacks when they came upon what was happening with mr chauvin and mr floyd on the ground. next to the young woman in the blue pants is genevieve hansen, the first response or who tried to intervene to check the pulse and check on him. she will come and testify to you. next to her as a young man named donald williams, trained with the security background, trained in mixed martial arts, he was very excited —— was very alarmed to learn about what he saw, so he will come and testify. many of these bystanders will be coming in to talk with you. and so, they come from the broad spectrum of humanity, different races, different genders. you have older people, younger people, but you will see that what they all had in common is they were going about their business, they saw something that was shocking to them, that was disturbing to them and made them stop and take note. you will try to first into see what is happening with their voices. they try to interject, exhort, please stop, to get into what we call good trouble just with their voices because something there was concerning to them. when that didn't work, you can see any number of them pull out their cameras to document what was happening, such that it would be memorialised, such that it would be memorialised, such that it would not be misrepresented, such that it could not be forgotten. what we will see this morning will be the footage taken from one of these bystanders in just a footage taken from one of these bystanders injust a moment. and you will learn with respect of these bystanders that none of them knew who george floyd was. they didn't know his history, or anything about him. all they know is they came upon an individual that they saw was in some serious distress under the knees of mr chauvin. let me show you what the scene looks like just briefly. here in minneapolis this takes place at the intersection of chicago avenue and 38th st at cup foods. if you can see the image of a squad car, that is ultimately where mr floyd was being restrained on the ground under the knees of mr chauvin. we will spend quite a bit more time with this map during the trial butjust for now i wanted to set the stage for what you are going to see. so, with that, i'm going to show you the video evidence. the video evidence i think will be very helpful and meaningful to you because you can see it for yourself without lawyer talk and see it for yourself. please! i can't breathe. you got him down, man. let him breathe — you got him down, man. let him breathe at — you got him down, man. let him breathe at least, _ you got him down, man. let him breathe at least, man. _ you got him down, man. let him breathe at least, man. i’m“ - you got him down, man. let him breathe at least, man.— you got him down, man. let him breathe at least, man. i'm going to die this way- _ breathe at least, man. i'm going to die this way. what _ breathe at least, man. i'm going to die this way. what do _ breathe at least, man. i'm going to die this way. what do you - breathe at least, man. i'm going to die this way. what do you want? i i die this way. what do you want? i can't breathe. _ die this way. what do you want? i can't breathe. please, _ die this way. what do you want? i can't breathe. please, the - die this way. what do you want? i can't breathe. please, the knee . die this way. what do you want? i j can't breathe. please, the knee in my neck — can't breathe. please, the knee in m neck. . . . can't breathe. please, the knee in m neck. , , . my neck. get up and get in the car, man. i will. — my neck. get up and get in the car, man. l will. i— my neck. get up and get in the car, man. iwill, i can't— my neck. get up and get in the car, man. iwill, i can't move. _ my neck. get up and get in the car, man. iwill, i can't move. get- my neck. get up and get in the car, man. i will, i can't move. get up i man. iwill, i can't move. get up and aet man. iwill, i can't move. get up and get in _ man. iwill, i can't move. get up and get in the — man. iwill, i can't move. get up and get in the car. _ man. iwill, i can't move. get up and get in the car. i _ man. iwill, i can't move. get up and get in the car. i can't. - man. iwill, i can't move. get up and get in the car. i can't. my i and get in the car. i can't. my neck. i know _ and get in the car. i can't. my neck. i know what _ and get in the car. i can't. my neck. i know what you - and get in the car. i can't. my neck. i know what you didn'tl and get in the car. i can't. my - neck. i know what you didn't listen. my stomach — neck. i know what you didn't listen. my stomach hurts, _ neck. i know what you didn't listen. my stomach hurts, my _ neck. i know what you didn't listen. my stomach hurts, my neck- neck. i know what you didn't listen. my stomach hurts, my neck hurts, | my stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything — my stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts. i need some water or something, please. please. i can't— or something, please. please. i can't breathe. his nose is bleeding, come on now. look at his nose. 1 his nose is bleeding, come on now. look at his nose.— look at his nose. i cannot breathe. tanh look at his nose. i cannot breathe. tough guy- — look at his nose. i cannot breathe. tough guy- tough _ look at his nose. i cannot breathe. tough guy- tough guy. _ look at his nose. i cannot breathe. tough guy. tough guy, huh? - look at his nose. i cannot breathe. tough guy. tough guy, huh? his . look at his nose. i cannot breathe. - tough guy. tough guy, huh? his whole nose... he ain't— tough guy. tough guy, huh? his whole nose... he ain't doing _ tough guy. tough guy, huh? his whole nose... he ain't doing any _ tough guy. tough guy, huh? his whole nose... he ain't doing any harm, - tough guy. tough guy, huh? his whole nose... he ain't doing any harm, geti nose... he ain't doing any harm, get him in the — nose... he ain't doing any harm, get him in the car- _ nose... he ain't doing any harm, get him in the car. how— nose... he ain't doing any harm, get him in the car. how long _ nose... he ain't doing any harm, get him in the car. how long have - nose... he ain't doing any harm, get him in the car. how long have you i him in the car. how long have you aot to him in the car. how long have you got to hold _ him in the car. how long have you got to hold him _ him in the car. how long have you got to hold him down? _ him in the car. how long have you got to hold him down? he - him in the car. how long have you got to hold him down? he is- him in the car. how long have you i got to hold him down? he is human, bruh. you got to hold him down? he is human, bruh- you can _ got to hold him down? he is human, bruh. you can put— got to hold him down? he is human, bruh. you can put him _ got to hold him down? he is human, bruh. you can put him in _ got to hold him down? he is human, bruh. you can put him in the - got to hold him down? he is human, bruh. you can put him in the car. - bro, he ain't crying. is that some jujitsu _ bro, he ain't crying. is that some jujitsu move? _ bro, he ain't crying. is that some jujitsu move? you _ bro, he ain't crying. is that some jujitsu move? you don't- bro, he ain't crying. is that some jujitsu move? you don't think- jujitsu move? you don't think anybody— jujitsu move? you don't think anybody understands - jujitsu move? you don't think anybody understands that - jujitsu move? you don't think anybody understands that expletive. that is expletive — anybody understands that expletive. that is expletive, _ anybody understands that expletive. that is expletive, you _ anybody understands that expletive. that is expletive, you are _ anybody understands that expletive. j that is expletive, you are expletive stopping his breathing there, bro. get him off the ground. get him off the ground, bro. you are being a bum right now. he's enjoying that expletive. he's enjoying that, bro. you could put him in the car right now, he's not resisting arrest. look at you, your body language is crazy, you expletive bum it's the whites. you know that is bogus right now, bro. you know that is bogus right now, bro~ you _ you know that is bogus right now, bro~ you can't— you know that is bogus right now, bro. you can't even— you know that is bogus right now, bro. you can't even look- you know that is bogus right now, bro. you can't even look at - you know that is bogus right now, bro. you can't even look at me . you know that is bogus right now, | bro. you can't even look at me like a man— bro. you can't even look at me like a man because _ bro. you can't even look at me like a man because you _ bro. you can't even look at me like a man because you are _ bro. you can't even look at me like a man because you are a _ bro. you can't even look at me like a man because you are a bum. - bro. you can't even look at me like a man because you are a bum. hisl a man because you are a bum. his nose is a man because you are a bum. nose is bleeding. a man because you are a bum. his nose is bleeding. you _ a man because you are a bum. his nose is bleeding. you are - a man because you are a bum. his| nose is bleeding. you are stopping his breathing _ nose is bleeding. you are stopping his breathing right _ nose is bleeding. you are stopping his breathing right now, _ nose is bleeding. you are stopping his breathing right now, you - nose is bleeding. you are stopping his breathing right now, you think| his breathing right now, you think that is— his breathing right now, you think that is call? — his breathing right now, you think that is call? what— his breathing right now, you think that is call? what is— his breathing right now, you think that is call? what is your- his breathing right now, you think that is call? what is your badge i that is call? what is your badge number. — that is call? what is your badge number. bro? _ that is call? what is your badge number, bro? you _ that is call? what is your badge number, bro? you think- that is call? what is your badge number, bro? you think that'sl that is call? what is your badge - number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? _ number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? you _ number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? you are — number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? you are a— number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? you are a bum. _ number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? you are a bum. you _ number, bro? you think that's cool, bro? you are a bum. you are - number, bro? you think that's cool, | bro? you are a bum. you are getting mad. _ bro? you are a bum. you are getting mad. you _ bro? you are a bum. you are getting mad. you are — bro? you are a bum. you are getting mad. you are stopping _ bro? you are a bum. you are getting mad. you are stopping his— bro? you are a bum. you are getting mad. you are stopping his breathing| mad. you are stopping his breathing i’ilht mad. you are stopping his breathing right now. _ mad. you are stopping his breathing riaht now. ., ., ~' mad. you are stopping his breathing riaht now. ., ., right now. look at him! look at him. get off him — right now. look at him! look at him. get off him now. _ right now. look at him! look at him. get off him now. he's _ right now. look at him! look at him. get off him now. he's got _ right now. look at him! look at him. get off him now. he's got mace, - right now. look at him! look at him. | get off him now. he's got mace, he's got mace. he cannot breathe. {heck got mace. he cannot breathe. check on him, got mace. he cannot breathe. check on him. he — got mace. he cannot breathe. check on him. he is _ got mace. he cannot breathe. check on him, he is not _ got mace. he cannot breathe. check on him, he is not responsive - got mace. he cannot breathe. check on him, he is not responsive right now. _ on him, he is not responsive right now. ., he on him, he is not responsive right now— he is _ on him, he is not responsive right now._ he is not - now. look at him. he is not responsive _ now. look at him. he is not responsive right _ now. look at him. he is not responsive right now, - now. look at him. he is not responsive right now, he i now. look at him. he is not| responsive right now, he not responsive _ responsive right now, he not responsive right _ responsive right now, he not responsive right now, - responsive right now, he not responsive right now, bro. i responsive right now, he not. responsive right now, bro. bro, responsive right now, he not- responsive right now, bro. bro, are you serious? — responsive right now, bro. bro, are you serious?— check his pulse! check his pulse, bro, check his puise. — check his pulse, bro, check his pulse. dont— check his pulse, bro, check his puise. don't do— check his pulse, bro, check his pulse. don't do drugs, - check his pulse, bro, check his pulse. don't do drugs, bro. - check his pulse, bro, check his i pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what check his pulse, bro, check his - pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? _ pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? you _ pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? you cati— pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? you call what— pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? you call what he's— pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? you call what he's doing - pulse. don't do drugs, bro. what is that? you call what he's doing 0k?j that? you call what he's doing ok? you cati— that? you call what he's doing ok? you call what — that? you call what he's doing ok? you call what he's _ that? you call what he's doing ok? you call what he's doing _ that? you call what he's doing ok? you call what he's doing 0k? - that? you call what he's doing ok? you call what he's doing ok? you i you call what he's doing ok? you think— you call what he's doing ok? you think that's — you call what he's doing ok? you think that's ok? _ you call what he's doing ok? you think that's ok? check— you call what he's doing ok? you think that's ok? check his - you call what he's doing ok? you think that's ok? check his pulse. | think that's ok? check his pulse. the man— think that's ok? check his pulse. the man ain't— think that's ok? check his pulse. the man ain't moving. _ think that's ok? check his pulse. the man ain't moving. the - think that's ok? check his pulse. the man ain't moving. the man. think that's ok? check his pulse. - the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved _ the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved yet. — the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved yet. bro~ _ the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved yet, bro. you _ the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved yet, bro. you are _ the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved yet, bro. you are a _ the man ain't moving. the man ain't moved yet, bro. you are a bum, - the man ain't moving. the man ain't| moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me _ moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me what — moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me what his _ moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me what his pulse _ moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me what his pulse is— moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me what his pulse is right - moved yet, bro. you are a bum, bro. tell me what his pulse is right now. i tell me what his pulse is right now. bro, he has not moved one time. you don't _ bro, he has not moved one time. you don't understand. _ bro, he has not moved one time. you don't understand. 0k, _ bro, he has not moved one time. you don't understand. ok, that's - bro, he has not moved one time. you don't understand. ok, that's cool, - don't understand. ok, that's cool, io don't understand. ok, that's cool, go back— don't understand. ok, that's cool, go back in— don't understand. ok, that's cool, go back in the _ don't understand. ok, that's cool, go back in the store. _ don't understand. ok, that's cool, go back in the store. he's - don't understand. ok, that's cool, go back in the store. he's not - go back in the store. he's not expletive _ go back in the store. he's not expletive moving. _ go back in the store. he's not expletive moving. you - go back in the store. he's not expletive moving. you don'tj go back in the store. he's not - expletive moving. you don't need to help me out, bro, i know your parents, i know who owns the store, he's not moving. get yourself back out here, bro, he's not expletive moving. bro, you are a bum, bro. the first thing you want to grab is your mate because you are scared of expletive minorities. get off of him! , , ., �* , expletive minorities. get off of him! , , ., �*, ., him! three minutes, bro, he's not expletive — him! three minutes, bro, he's not expletive moving. _ him! three minutes, bro, he's not expletive moving. get _ him! three minutes, bro, he's not expletive moving. get off- him! three minutes, bro, he's not expletive moving. get off the - him! three minutes, bro, he's not. expletive moving. get off the man, bro, get off his expletive neck. are you serious? are you serious? you're going to keep your knee on his neck? don't touch me like that, i swear i will slap you. you're just going to let him keep his hand on his neck? are going to let him keep it like that, we are going to let him kill that, we are going to let him kill that man in front of you, bro? he's not even expletive moving. thea;r not even expletive moving. they don't care. _ not even expletive moving. they don't care, bro. _ not even expletive moving. they don't care, bro. you're _ not even expletive moving. they don't care, bro. you're sitting - don't care, bro. you're sitting there with — don't care, bro. you're sitting there with your— don't care, bro. you're sitting there with your knee - don't care, bro. you're sitting there with your knee on - don't care, bro. you're sitting there with your knee on his i don't care, bro. you're sitting - there with your knee on his neck, you're a real man for that, bro. the fact that you _ you're a real man for that, bro. the: fact that you guys you're a real man for that, bro. tie: fact that you guys are you're a real man for that, bro. ti9 fact that you guys are not checking his pulse, you guys are on another level. i have your name tag, expletive.— level. i have your name tag, expletive. :, :, , , : �* expletive. freedom of speech. don't touch him. expletive. freedom of speech. don't touch him- we _ expletive. freedom of speech. don't touch him. i've got— expletive. freedom of speech. don't touch him. i've got this _ expletive. freedom of speech. don't touch him. i've got this all _ expletive. freedom of speech. don't touch him. i've got this all on - touch him. i've got this all on camera. _ touch him. i've got this all on camera. you touched him, you went to him. _ camera. you touched him, you went to him. so _ camera. you touched him, you went to him. so shut— camera. you touched him, you went to him, so shut up! you went to him. he's_ him, so shut up! you went to him. he' , :, , :, nine minutes and 29 seconds is how long that went on for. for half of that time mr floyd was unconscious. you will see in the videos, ladies and gentlemen, that mr floyd from time to time was heaving up his right shoulder. there's a reason for that. mr chauvin was on his left side, his back and his neck. he can't move that. he's heaving up his right shoulder so he can get room for his ribcage to expand to breathe because at this point you will learn he is pancaked. in order to breed you have to have room for the lungs to expand in and out and you will see mr floyd doing his best to try to crank his right shoulder up having to lift his weight and mr mud's weight on top of him to get a breath as long as he could get a breath as long as he could get a breath and you will hear more about that during the trial. you will learn that the number of the bystanders there called the police on the police. genevieve hanson, the first responder, called the police on the police. donald williams, the young man that very vocal, mixed martial arts background, so the pressure that was put on the neck. he called the police on the police. but not only that, you are going to learn there was a 911 dispatcher, genus corrie, she will come to talk to you also. there was a fixed camera trained on the scene and she could see through the camera what was going on. you will learn that what she saw was so unusual and for her so disturbing that she did something that she had never done in her career. she called the police on the police, a 911 dispatcher. she called sergeant david blinker who will come in to testify, she called on him to report because she found it so disturbing. she will tell you that she saw a man literally lose his life, and you will hear her testify. i want to talk to you a little bit about intent, that is what our evidence is going to be on theissue what our evidence is going to be on the issue of intent. as i mentioned, we are going to show you that the use of force here was excessive and unreasonable. we are going to show you that it was not accidental in terms of what was happening at the scene. that what mr chauvin was doing he was doing deliberately. now, when we bring you the evidence of intent is not going to come on like a sandwich board with a front side and a backside and the front says, this is our evidence of intent, and the backside says, yes, you saw it. we will bring it through the totality of all the evidence, looking at all the evidence. you will for example here from the medical support coordinator for the minneapolis police department. she will tell you that the dangers of the prone position, putting people facedown on the ground, have been known about an police for over 30 years. she will tell you that arrestees, citizens under arrest, should never be put in the prone position except only momentarily to get them under police custody or control to get handcuffs on them. but never left in that position. you will learn that mr floyd was in handcuffs already so they didn't need to put him on the ground to get him into... under police control. and she will tell you that the reason you don't put a person and leave them in a prone position that way let alone with a man's body weight on top of him, the reason you don't do that is because of the potential to obstruct the airways. the minneapolis police department, he is going to tell you about the training that mr chauvin received, but also going to tell you that he knows of no training that will suggest that kneeling on somebody�*s neck was proper, according to minneapolis police department training. you will learn that officers are trained to avoid putting pressure on areas that are above the areas of the shoulder, on the spinal column, on the neck, on the spinal column, on the neck, on the head, and not to do that is using deadly force because if you are putting pressure or blows in those areas, you run the risk of seriously injuring the person or potentially killing them, it can be deadly force. so they are trained not to do that. but above all, the police are trained in the recovery position, that if you have to put someone in opposition to get them under control, you them over on the side as soon as possible so you do not obstruct the airway by having them on their side where the lungs can expand with the chest, you put them in a side recovery position right away. and you will hear all about the importance of that. and we will bring you the evidence of all of the warnings that mr chauvin would have received, notjust from george floyd himself, but from the calls crying out from the bystanders, from the approach of the ambulance, from the paramedics and so on. all of whom did their part to encourage him to let up and to get up. you will be able to consider that umbrella of intent. i want to talk with you a second about the evidence on causation, the medical causation in terms of what was happening to mr floyd while he was there on the ground. and if i had to get this part of the evidence you're going to see, i would tell you that you can believe your eyes that it is a homicide, it is a murder. and here's what you will be able to see for yourself. you will be able to see every part of what mr floyd went through from him first crying out, from his effort to move his shoulder to get his breathing, ticket room to breathe, you will be able to see his voice get deeper and heavier, his words further apart, his breasts more shallow, you will see him when he goes unconscious —— his breathing more shallow, and the uncontrollable shaking that he will be doing when he is not breathing any more, the seizures from oxygen deprivation. you will be able to see when he is going through agony breathing, the involuntary gasping of the body from oxygen deficiency —— agonal breathing. and you will hear when there was a loss of polls, from a number of experts understand that putting a man in the prone position with the handcuffs behind his back, somebody on his neck and back pressing down on him for nine minutes and 29 seconds is enough to take a life. you will hear that also. you're also going to hear from experts who will point to the significant evidence of the excessive force that was put on mr floyd. you'll be able to see the road rash on the shoulders from where he has been pressed into the pavement from the weight on top, the stripped off layers of skin. the same with the knuckles on his hand when he is trying to get room to breathe, pressing up, the damage to his nose when he pressed his face into the pavement to try and get room to breathe. you will learn that the last nine minutes and 29 seconds of mr floyd's life, he was —— for that period of time, it matches someone who died from oxygen deficiency, would be able to point to the video evidence you'll be to see for yourself. you are also going to hear and see certain evidence of what this was not. this was not a fatal heart event, this was no heart attack. you'll learn that there is no demonstrated injury whatsoever to mr floydhard as a heart attack. you will hear evidence that mr floyd had an artery and his heart that was partially clogged, you will learn that there was no damage to his heart from in an adequate blood supply to his heart, there was no clotting in his heart, you'll learn that the medical examiner when he was examining the heart after he had died saw no evidence of heart injury and it was so unremarkable he did not even photograph the heart. you will learn that this was not a fatal arrhythmia, that the heartbeats rhythmically and then occasionally gets out of rhythm. and out of rhythm, the heart mayjust stop. in the case of a failed arrhythmia, you will learn that when a person suffers that they stop and drop right where they are. instant death. you will be able to see for yourself that mr floyd did not die and instant death. he died one breath at a time over an extended period of time, not like the way the wind is from a fatal arrhythmia. —— not the way that one dies from a fatal arrhythmia. you also learn that george floyd struggled with an opioid addiction, he struggled with it for years. you will learn that he did not die from a drug overdose, he did not die from a drug overdose, he did not die from a drug overdose, he did not die from an opioid overdose. why, because you will able to look at the video footage and see that he looks absolutely nothing like a person who would die from an opioid overdose. you will learn that opioids are tranquilisers and that when a person dies from an opioid overdose, what they look like person looks like is they fall asleep and they simply pass away, they are not screaming for their lives, calling on their mothers, they are not begging, please, icannot on their mothers, they are not begging, please, i cannot breathe. that is not what an opioid overdose looks like. you will learn that mr floyd had 11 mg of sentinel in his system when he died —— 11 mg of a drug in his system, fentenal, but that was not a fatal dose, but for people who have never been exposed to it that may be lethal, but for others who have been struggling with that for years and have a different tolerance level, you will learn that the levels of fentenal was in the range of people who might receive appeared for cancer pain. he had lived with his opioid addiction for years and you can see on the video that this behaviour is not consistent with somebody who dies of an opioid addiction, he did not go into slumber, he was calling out for his life, he was struggling. . you also hear from a friend his life, he was struggling. . you also hearfrom a friend —— his life, he was struggling. . you also hear from a friend —— you will hearfrom a forensic also hear from a friend —— you will hear from a forensic pathologist, and what she does, she studies body tissues on autopsy to try and determine the cause and manner of death. over 35 year career as a forensic pathologist. over that period of time she had done medical examinerforensic period of time she had done medical examiner forensic pathology work in some 37 minnesota counties at the 87 we have, she had in over 5000 autopsies and determine cause and manner of death in thousands of others. she is semiretired now and works as a consultant still in the field of pathology. she was one of the persons who helped to train the current medical examiner, doctor andrew baker, when he wasjust getting started out in forensic pathology. here is where doctor baker and doctor thomas agree, as to the manner of mr floyd's death, and i will show you the findings from doctor baker. when he lists manner of death for george floyd, homicide. i want to explain to you that when he uses homicide, is not the way that we would use it here in the courtroom, when they say homicide it simply means that the person died at the hands of another, is what that means. and i will show you what list that shows from in a minute and doctor thomas will come in and testify about that, but it means he died at the hands of another. you will also learn that he listed because of death, cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement some dual restraint and compression. i will translate that into english and you will hear that from doctor thomas, cardiopulmonary arrest. every human being that has ever been on the planet has two things in common, one, that they are born, and two, that they die of cardiopulmonary arrest. because all that means is that the heart stops and the lungs top. simply another way of saying death —— the lungs stop. because of death, death, complicating evolving law enforcement some dual, subduing a george floyd, restraining him and compressing his neck, the cause of death. how the injury occurred, george floyd experience a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officers. in terms of the manners of death, you see here it says homicide, here would be standard list of the choices that metal examiners will look to in determining what the manner of death was. how the injury or disease leads to death, and doctor thomas will talk to you about this. i've manners. natural, natural causes, a heart attack, fatal arrhythmia, you will learn is a natural cause, accident, a drug overdose is an example of an accidental death, car accident, suicide, homicide, death at the hands of another, or undetermined, that if you cannot tell which it is or what it is, you indicate undetermined. and here you will learn that the two doctors determine amongst the possible manners of death, it was not natural, not accidental, not suicide, not undetermined, it was homicide, death at the hands of another. but that is not all that doctor thomas is going to tell you, she is going to tell you something about the limitations of pathology, thatis about the limitations of pathology, that is looking at the tissues of people after they have been in deceased and trying to determine whether simply died as a result of oxygen deficiency. in over half the cases where somebody dies from insufficient oxygen, and you know they have died from that, there are no signs in the body tissues. she will give you the example, for example, somebody smothered by a pillow and they died that way. you may see nothing in the body tissues, but you know they died from oxygen deficiency because you know how they die. and here in this case you will hear that an autopsy, they did not see any objective things in his tissues, but she says we have to look at all the evidence and we can see what happened at the scene. and we can see moment by moment that he had all the telltale signs of a person who is struggling and suffering from not receiving sufficient oxygen. she was saying you have to look at all the evidence and we will show you that as we go through. studio: that is a jerry blackwell, part of the prosecution team at the trial of derek chauvin, minneapolis police officer when george floyd died. we will return to the court if there are any developments, you're watching bbc news. we are now going to turn our attention to the uk, and thatis to turn our attention to the uk, and that is to the downing street news conference which is expected to take place between about half past four and five o'clock this afternoon, thatis and five o'clock this afternoon, that is when it will start and we are going to bejoining boris johnson and the government's chief science adviser, sir patrick vallance, and chris whitty, the chief medical officerfor vallance, and chris whitty, the chief medical officer for the news conference and will be joined by viewers on bbc one. that is coming up viewers on bbc one. that is coming upjust in a few viewers on bbc one. that is coming up just in a few moments on bbc news. this is bbc news. the headlines: coronavirus restrictions have been relaxed in england, you can now meet in a group of six or two households outside. the biggest part of moving forward is seeing people you haven't seen for a year 01’ more. it will be lovely. and seeing family. what i really want to do is hug people. oh, it's making me emotional! many outdoor sports have restarted today — with swimmers braving the chill and getting in the pool for the first time in months. i'm so excited about being here, i'm going back in again, so see you in the pool. going back in again, so see you in the aool. :, , :, :, , going back in again, so see you in the aool. :,, :, :, 1 ,, the pool. people have really missed it. it's so important _ the pool. people have really missed it. it's so important for _ the pool. people have really missed it. it's so important for all _ the pool. people have really missed it. it's so important for all round - it. it's so important for all round heatth. — the prime minister is due to give an update on the government's handling of the coronavirus