Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell 20240711

Card image cap

Methamphetamine. We know from ms. Ross that in March Of 2020 mr. Floyd was seen for a drug overdose. She described how he felt in that instance. She said his whole body hurt. His stomach hurt. We know, based again from ms. Ross, that he was clean and sober for some time while they were in quarantine. We know that ms. Ross again described taking about a week before a similar pill to the one they had back in march. Kept her up again all night. She said she felt like she was going to die. We know, again, from ms. Ross, that those pills were purchased from mortys hall. She described going to the hotel while mr. Floyd, while George Floyd was on the phone with him. She heard his voice. We know mr. Floyd was with Maurice On May 25, 2020. We know from the store clerk, he described mr. Floyd as being high. His responses were delayed. He may have been, you know, standing around. He may have been standing up. He may have been able to have communications, but mr. Martin clearly described him as being high. We heard from ms. Hill that when they got back into the car, they had a conversation for a few minutes and suddenly mr. Floyd fell asleep. All of these things become important. They had trouble waking him up. She called her daughter because they couldnt wake her up Wake Mr. Floyd up. They couldnt keep him awake. We heard how mr. Martin described mr. Floyd when he went back to the car and how he was he wasnt speaking, right. He kept putting his head back and shaking his head. We know from peter kuengs bodyworn camera that mr. Floyd was dozing off. We know that whether mr. Floyd was Chewing Gum while he was in the store, we can also see he was eating a banana. He bought a banana. So we know when we look at this picture, theres something in mr. Floyds mouth. Is It Gum . Is It Banana . Is It Drugs . Nobody knows. But regardless of whether its drugs, bananas or gum in this incident, we know there were pills in the car. We know that there were drugs in the car. We know those pills were later tested to be a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl. Thats what was in mr. Floyds system. Its relevant because its what was in his system. These are the pills that were found. We know at some Point Mr. Floyd was handcuffed. His hands were behind his back. It would have been physically impossible to put anything in his mouth at that point. And we know that in the Squad Car 320 were pills. We know those pills were analyzed. We know those pills consisted of fentanyl and methamphetamine. We know that mr. Floyds Salivary Dna was found on those pills. How much fentanyl does it take to kill . This is from the Minneapolis Police departments training. Approximately two to three milligrams. Smaller than a penny. This is from the Squad Car. You can look at these pictures closely during the course of your evidence. There is a video of mr. Floyd when mr. Floyd is being subdued and restrained by the police. Mr. Maurice hall reaches into his bag. Hes reaching through the windows. And then he throws something. We know that mr. Floyd had drugs in his mouth. We know that some percentage of that would have been consumed and absorbed into his system. We dont know how much he took before. We dont know when he took an earlier dose in relation because fentanyl had actually started to metabolize. So fentanyl was longer before. For the medical experts to minimize the timing and the amount of illicIt Drugs that were found in mr. Floyds bloodstream, it is just simply incredible to me. It is incredible to me. Every single doctor testified that relevant to the that the absence of signs of Fentanyl Overdose Werent present because he was alert, he was talking. But it ignores what ms. Hill and Maurice Hall says, right, that he was all of a sudden asleep and difficult to wake up. It ignores the fact that the combination of these two drugs, methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant. Fentanyl is a powerful sedative. They use it for surgeries every single doctor dismissed outright nothing about this case. It was only 0. 19 nanograms per mill mililiter. It is such a small amount of methamphetamine in his system. Its a vasoskconstrictor. It causes the arteries to constrict even tighter. Doesnt matter. Every single doctor just brushed it aside. Said it would have no effect. I asked, would any of those doctors prescribe illicit methamphetamine to their patients . Would they give it to their children . Would they give it to their elderly parents with a 90 blockage of the coronary artery, of the right coronary artery . I guarantee you the answer is no. Dr. Rich is the only one who said, i would never recommend to my patients that they take any amount of illicit methamphetamine. It is preposterous that it is a preposterous notion that this did not come into play here. Lets take a half Hour Break for lunch. I dont want to interrupt, but i apologize. 30 minutes for lunch, please. Thank you. Wow. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Im Alisyn Camerota along with Victor Blackwell and for more than two hours. For two hours you have been watching the defense make their Closing Argument in the Derek Chauvin Trial, the former Minneapolis Police officer is charged with murdering George Floyd by kneeling on Floyds Neck for more than nine minutes. The defense argues that chauvins actions were reasonable. So we know our legal experts have also been standing by all this team and listening. Lets get to them. We have Ariva Martin and cnn legal analyst elie, formerle federal prosecutor. I know you have been paying very close attention to this more than two hours of Eric Nelson. How did he do . So far this has been a clinic in distraction, a clinic in blameshifting. The defense so far has tried to get the jury to focus on everything, everything but the heart of the matter. Ill give you an example. With the 9 29, we know that 9 29 is the crucial period in this case when Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyds neck. The Defense Lawyer said, that is, quote, not the proper analysis. Not the proper analysis . Thats the only analysis that really matters here in terms of the use of force. Another thing thats really important, the Defense Lawyer has misstated the law on medical causation. He is leading this jury to believe that if there were any other factors involved other than the knee to the neck, the verdict has to be not guilty. Heres what the judge instructed the jury earlier and watch for the prosecution to correct this. The judge said, the fact that other causes contributed to death does not relieve the defendant of criminal liability. Thats why we have rebuttal. The prosecution has to clean that up. Let me bring you in here because i dont want to rush by what just happened as we came to air for analysis. The judge here just interrupted and said, weve got to send the jury to lunch. We had an hour and 45 minutes from Steve Schleicher from the state, special prosecutor, and more than 2 1 2 hours into the defenses Closing Argument. The judge just cut him off. That seems atypical, that he would interrupt the Closing Arguments from the defense. Well, its probably to the defenses a benefit to the defense because, lets face it, these are individuals and theyve been sitting in this courtroom now for almost 4 1 2 hours listening to testimony. As riveting as this testimony may be to us, as journalists and as legal analysts, to the everyday person called to jury duty, this is gruelling. Its gruelling to sit there and listen to each of these lawyers go through in painstaking defense all the Evidence Theyve already heard for the last couple of weeks. Victor, although its not common to cut someone off in the middle of Thr Argument and go to lunch, i think this is a benefit to the defense because i cant imagine we havent got pool notes from the reporter inside the courthouse, but i can imagine there are some jurors drifting off. Jurors get irritated when theyre hungry and they havent had food. I think the judge made a good call because it doesnt look like Eric Nelson is any way getting to his final part of his Closing Argument. Sounds like he may have another 30, 45 minutes to go. Before we get to the meat of what hes saying, i want your stylistic point on that. It is hard as a juror to stay laser focused if youre hungry f youve been listening for 2 1 2 hours. Eric nelson kept apologizing for being longwinded. Youve been a trial attorney. Is is there some science as to when you let a jury take a break . Theres no science but theres Common Sense. You have to read the room. Juries have short attention spans. Hes going too long. If you as a viewer are going, when does this end . Where is he going . I guarantee you the jurors are thinking the same thing, especially when its 2 15 in minneapolis, p. M. , im sure theyre thinking of lunch. I think the judge did him a favor when he cut him off when he did. Lets go into the actual content of the Closing Argument. And it seems as if thus far, maybe because its gone on an hour longer than the closing from the state, that the defense is using far more video, far more of the Body Cam to make its case. Is that to borrow a phrase, is the Juice Worth the squeeze . What im hearing is George Floyd calling out to his mother, George Floyd continuing to say, be i cant breathe. He puts up a photograph. Whats in the center of the frame is the gun, not really the item, gum, Banana Or Pill in George Floyds mouth. Whats your assessment of the use of video and the evidence in this closing . Yeah, i think youre right. This video is extremely troubling for the defense. Every time they use a piece of this video, they run the risk of alienating these jurors and cause the jurors to be taken back to the heart of the case, which is that 9 minutes and 29 seconds. That piece of video with the gun in the face of George Floyd, i think, is fatal to the Defenses Position because what theyre trying to convince us you know, what they want us to believe is somehow the conduct of these officers, and particularly Derek Chauvin, was reasonable. And they want us to look back before the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. He keeps talking about these 17 minutes. I think what the jurors see is a man who was compliant, who was doing everything he was asked to do by these Police Officers, putting his hands on the steering wheel, starting immediately to talk about his claustrophobia and his anxiety. And yet what we saw were these overly aggressive Police Officers dropping the fbombs, pointing the gun in his face, wrestling with him in this car. I think that whole focus on that socalled, you know, when he was being aggressive as Chauvins Lawyer wants us to believe, i think thats going to hurt the defense. Im sitting here thinking, you got a man thats 6 feet tall. You say hes a big guy. There has to be a bigger car you can call . There has to be a different technique you can use. We saw him sitting next to that building very calm, answering questions, responding to Police Officers. I think jurors, again, not leaving their Common Sense at home are going to be thinking, gee, couldnt you have taken him out of that car, sat him down, slowed the situation down and used some better deescalation tactics rather than this wrestling back and forth over this tiny cage, as i think the prosecutor correctly called the backseat of that Squad Car. Thats what we heard from Steve Schleicher. He continuously went through the chronology and said, thats not resistance. Thats compliance. He was sitting next to the wall. Thats not resistance, thats compliance, to arivas point. If im the prosecutor, i would argue to the jury, everything before the 9 29 is a really, who cares. The atmospherics sets the stage, but the time when the prosecution is charging this murder occurred during those 9 29. Was there a struggle to get into the Police Car . Yes, there was. Does it matter once George Floyd is rear handcuffed, facedown on the pavement with three officers on top of him . A lot of Closing Arguments are about focus. And the prosecution wants to draw the focus to the key points, to Derek Chauvin, to those 9 29. As were seeing now, the defense wants to throw the focus everywhere and anywhere else. And the Prosecutions Task when they get their chance to rebut after that is to bring that focus back to Derek Chauvin and 9 29. One more thing about that videotape because i thought the Defense Attorney, Eric Nelson, brought up something interesting. He said, do you do something illegal when you know youre being videotaped by four or five Body Cams . I mean, he was sort of saying, Derek Chauvin is aware his Body Cam is on, hes aware the other officers Body Camera is on. He was making that point that he wouldnt have been doing something criminal or illegal at that point. What did you think of that argument . I thought that was a decent argument. Heres my comeback if im a prosecutor, he thought he was untouchable, he was air gants. He never thought he would be held accountable for his actions. Guess what, folks, jury, thats what were doing here. Thats what youre doing. Can we bring in anthony barksdale, Former Acting police commissioner. I think the defense is doing their very best to distract from the issues. I personally have made well over 1,000 arrests and having been a reasonable officer, there was nothing reasonable about keeping a knee on a mans neck, a man that is handcuffed, telling you he cannot breathe, screaming for his mother to keep it on the neck and kill him. Nothing reasonable at all about it. Commissioner, im so glad you brought that up. Areva, can you talk about that. We heard the Defense Attorney, Eric Nelson, say that many times. It was a catchphrase he was using. Reasonable Police Officer, who a reasonable Police Officer do this . Any reasonable Police Officer. It was like he was sort of planting that phrase into the jurors heads. What did you think about the use of that . Yeah, i think he overused it. I think jurors, again, theyre going to harken back to the testimony they heard throughout this trial and theyre going to think about their own encounters with police and what they know generally about policing. And i thinking everyones going to be asking themselves, if this is the conduct of a reasonable Police Officer, then what does the conduct of an unreasonable Police Officer look like . Because we know in this case, this conduct that you want us to believe is reasonable, resulted in the death of a man who we saw minutes before the encounter, who was acting completely normal, who seemed to have no health issues and was not in any distress. I think its going to backfire on them. What we heard from the lead prosecutor, Steve Schleicher, during his Closing Argument was trying to separate Derek Chauvin from policing. Separate Derek Chauvin from the Minneapolis Police department and the affinity some jurors may have for supporting Police Officers. Heres an example of that. This case is called the state of minnesota versus Derek Chauvin. This case is not called the state of minnesota versus the police. It is not. Policing is a noble profession and it is a profession. You met several Minneapolis Police officers during this trial. You met them. They took the stand. They testified. Make no mistake, this is not a prosecution of the police. It is a prosecution of the defendant. And Theres Nothing worse for good police than bad police, who doesnt follow the rules, who doesnt follow procedure, who doesnt follow training, who ignores the policies of the department and the motto of the department. To protect with courage, to serve with compassion. He went on to say chauvin is not on trial for who he was. Hes on trial for what he did. It is rare for Police Officers to be charged, even more rare for them to be convicted. The strategy youre seeing from the state and do you think theyve been effective in their execution . I thought that was brilliantly done right there. One of the key things you want to do as a prosecutor is take the energy out of things that may work against you here. I thought the prosecutor did a really good job saying, this is not us versus the police, this is not us versus good police or bad police. This is about Derek Chauvin, what he did, really to disgrace the badge. I guarantee you when he was making that speech, i kept thinking back to chief arredondo, who took the stand, testified unequivocally and what Derek Chauvin did was unacceptable, violated policy and procedure. And the contrast i think is something that will stick in the jurys mind, between what a Police Officer should be and what Derek Chauvin did to George Floyd. Commissioner, do you think given the back drop this is happening in we have seen since George Floyds death, obviously, a slew of other policerelated killings and shootings and excessive force. So, do you think the jurors will be able to separate in their mind, this is just Derek Chauvin versus, you know, whats happening down the road in Brooklyn Center . I pray that they can separate it. I believe the Prosecutions Statement was arg c rat. This is about his actions this day and he has to be held accountable. I think he said something about, believe your eyes, what you saw, you saw. And we all saw it. And chauvins Actions Ripple across the united states. Every good officer now has to deal with what he did that day. And hes not the kind of cop that any good cop wants working next to him or her. So i hope hes convicted, buried under the jail, i dont care. This is not what Police Stand for. Areva, speaking of separation, what were hearing from Eric Nelson ill read part of his opening statement. He said the jury would learn about crowd control, Human Factors of force, what happens to a Police Officer when theyre involved in the Highstress Use of force situation. In some of these elements, it seems as if hes arguing a single variable, that the prone position is not innately dangerous but takes away the 9 29 of the weight of another person. That the presence of fentanyl in the system can cause Reaction X without the discussion of element y. Do you believe that is going to be effective . And whats the first thing you hit in rebuttal if youre the state . Well, let me address Eric Nelsons style. One of the things he has done throughout this trial is he uses all these hypotheticals. Pigs can grow wings and fly hypotheticals and they have nothing to do with the facts of this case. Elie has talked about it, the chief has talked about it, the whole concept of distraction. We know, unfortunately, the way our Jury System works, particularly in these cases, all you need is one juror, you need the argument about these hypotheticals that arent related to the facts of this case resonate with one juror. And that one Juror Wont get you an acquittal but it can get you to a hung jury, which in this case by some standards would be a victory for Derek Chauvin. But i think most jurors, all jurors ive dealt with in my trial experience, they understand that thats legalese, thats what lawyers do. They get paid to do. And i think the prosecution has done such a good job of keeping them focused on the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Getting this em to realize none of that is relevant until you put the he knee on the neck. Thats what you have to stay focused on. Yes, the fentanyl is . His system, its in small doses, but theres no indication that but for the knee on the neck he would have died from having fentanyl in his system. The same with respect to his enlarged heater, his arteries. This man had preexisting health conditions. Theres no indication that but for his Chance Encounter with Derek Chauvin, you know, that he would not have survived. And i think the first thing that blackwell, who they call the Johnnie Cochran of the midwest, is take jurors back to the Bystander Video and get them to remain focused on Derek Chauvins actions on that day, actions which by any standards were unreasonable, unlawful and caused the death of George Floyd. Elie, whats going to happen next . As weve been talking about, the Judge Sort of intervened and said, weve got to take a break. Ive got to let the jurors take a lunch. What now . Hopefully Eric Nelson will get his thoughts together and finish quickly and then well see the prosecution stand up and rebut. If im the prosecutor, whenever i was in this position, i didnt want a break. I wanted to hop right up and hit the jury right away to counteract what the Defense Lawyer had just said. If i was doing that in this situation, i would start by reminding the jury, youre allowed to use your Common Sense. The judge just told you that. Its the Beauty And Power of our Jury System. So, if you dont buy this Carbon Monoxide Theory with no evidence, you can throw it out. If you dont buy this unruly crowd theory, you can throw it out. I think thats what the prosecutor has to do. Get up, bring the focus right back to the core of this case. Thank you both very much for all of the insight. Obviously, we will youre going to stick with us because well call upon you again. Commissioner barksdale, thank you very much. So, at this moment, the country is on edge as the jury in the Derek Chauvin Trial will soon begin deliberating. First, the Closing Argument needs to wrap up and the rebuttal. We have details about how the Minneapolis Community is preparing for what happens next. We started with computers. We didnt stop at computers. We didnt stop at storage or cloud. We kept going. Working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. And help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. So when it comes to your business, you know well stop at nothing. Tonight ill be eating a calzone from doughballs in aurora. Doorbell Rock on. Tonight ill be eating Lobster Thermidor au gratin. Really . Shyeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt. Make it two calzones protect your pet this Flea And Tick season with chewy. Find everything from Flea Collars and sprays, to prescriptions that keep pests away. Chewy has what you need to keep Tails Wagging and Pets Itch free all season long. When you earn a degree with university of phoenix, we support you with Career Coaching for life. Including personal branding, resume building, and more. Thats our promise to you. Thats Career Services for life. Learn more at phoenix. Edu the defense is scheduled to resume their Closing Arguments in the Derek Chauvin Trial after a short break that the judge called because its gone on so long and apparently the jury was hungry. After the judge. Josh campbell is with us from outside that courtroom. Josh, give us an idea of the color in the courtroom, the jury. What were they doing as this was going on for more than 2 1 2 hours . Reporter yeah, you know, were getting some of those reports from our colleagues inside. Ill say at the outset, its always difficult to read too much into a jurys actions, when theyre taking notes or when theyre listening, but there have been, according to some of those reports, a couple jurors who have appeared somewhat agitated, especially during the defenses portion. That could be due to the length of time its been going on. Hard to read too much into that. That was notable. There were two other instances that were really worth mentioning. The first is when it goes back to that prosecutor, schleicher, who is obviously working on behalf of the state, when he started out it was slow, it was methodical, there were a lot of jurors that were taking notes. But as he started to ramp up, he really captivated them. Jurors stopped writing. He had their full attention as he was explaining the states case. For their part, the defense had one of those moments as well, and thats when he was the Defense Attorney was talking about the amount of Strength Someone might have when theyre under the influence. All of the jurors, according to the reports, all of the jurors started taking note of that and paying attention. So, the jurors, we dont know how many have already potentially started making up their mind, how many are waiting for Closing Arguments in order to make that decision on what their personal verdicts will be. As far as what else is going on inside the courtroom we cannot see, as we mentioned, there are two seats there. Theres one seat reserved for the floyd family. That has been occupied by George Floyds brother, philonise floyd, and a representative of the chauvin family. Thats been represented by an unidentified woman whos been in there throughout. Now, where we are right now, as this is taking place, as weve said, the jury is on their brief lunch break. That abruptly called by the judge in and around this area, security is very tight. Weve been describing police, members of the National Guard. We dont expect a verdict to come today. Deliberations will start today but as with most trials, you never know what the timeline would be. But the city is nevertheless on full alert as well as the state. A number of members of the National Guard also on standby to come in. We also know that on wednesday, the city here will move all the schools to distance learning. They dont want children and parents and buses and the like out and about. Just unsure what the results of this verdict would be and what the resulting protests could possibly be. That is notable as well. The Security Precautions theyre taking. Finally, once we get back, what were going to hear is the defense, theyre going to complete their Closing Argument and then well hear the prosecutors. They get the final say. They will have their rebuttal, that given by State Prosecutor Jerry blackwell. The judge, as we understand it, will give some additional instructions to the jury. Thats expected to be a lot more brief. He gave those lengthy instructions earlier this morning, but nevertheless, he will have some words for the jury before they end and they will begin their deliberations. Its also worth noting this particular jury will be sequestered, which means they will be in hotels in the evening. They will not be allowed to go home. The judge telling them they can have some contact with their families, but admonishing them to talk to no one about this case other than their fellow jurors. So, Closing Arguments ending today. Deliberations will start. Then well wait and see what the verdict will be. Josh campbell for us outside the courthouse, thanks so much. Cities are preparing for the eventual verdict in the chauvin case. Tensions are high, not just in minneapolis but across the country over concerns there could be unrest or violence. Cnn Correspondent Adrian is in minneapolis. Tell us what the mood is on the street right now. Reporter anywhere you drive youll see boarded up buildings or members of the National Guard. Downtown minneapolis is beautiful but that beauty is hidden because so many of the buildings are boarded up. If you drive downtown near the hennepin government center, Youll Notice some Business Owners have written open On The Boards because they want people to know, hey, were still open. And this is all coming at a tough time for many folks. Keep in mind, were still in the middle of a pandemic. And for a great deal of time, theyve been shut down. And behind me guard members have been protecting this police station, which is downtown throughout the weekend. I wanted to hear from minnesotans, what they were thinking, whats on their hearts. Heres what some of them had to say. Im concerned for our community no matter what the verdict is. At some point, this trial also becomes a trial of our Criminal Justice system, a trial of our court system. If this system is capable yet of valuing black and brown lives, were going to see that. And we fully expect that if the answer again is no, that people will be very frustrated. Our goal is to channel that frustration and that anger, that energy into ways that are constructive to help us Build A Better Future For Our children and not in ways that are destructive. Reporter and the last person you heard from was mayor melvin carter. Hes the mayor in st. Paul. And i think its important to underscore, first, obviously, hes a black man. Hes also the mayor. But hes also the son of a former officer. His father served the st. Paul Police Department for nearly three decades, so he has a different lens, a different experience. He is letting the world know, this is not an attack on polices. This is a call to action, to change policing, and not just here in the Twin Cities, but across the country. A that is really good context. You also have an interesting lens. Youve lived in this area. So watching these small Business Owners board up, watching the police prepare, i guess, what is it like for you to see the city in this way . It feels like, here we go again. The Twin Cities i lived here for seven years and i still adore the Twin Cities. A big Piece Of My Heart is here. My family is here. And right now the world is seeing the ugly part of minneapolis, the ugly part of the Twin Cities, especially following the Shooting Death of daunte wright. But theres so much beauty here in the Twin Cities and across minnesota. And we saw it on display after the death of George Floyd. EveryBody Came together. There was unity. Like you see so much negativity taking place in the streets at night, but during the day, theres a lot of positivity. Behind closed doors, people are getting together and planning. They want to change how things are here. For example, i spoke with leslie ledman, former president of the naacp. Her push is dont complain, activate. Shes been around the community since last summer, 11 months ago, activating people, getting people involved, and amplifying voices we dont normally hear from. So, you asked me how do i feel . What is it like . I know theres so much good in this community. Right now, it feels like minnesota is a Case Study to change and root out some deep, serious issues, starting with the complex issue of racism. Its really, really helpful to get your perspective on all of this, particularly because you have that connection there. Adrienne, thank you very much. Next, the defense is scheduled to resume the Closing Arguments in the Derek Chauvin Trial. What shall we expect . Well talk about that next. Vo Nobody dreams in conventional thinking. It didnt get us to the moon. It doesnt ring the bell on wall street. Or disrupt the status quo. Tmobile for business uses unconventional thinking to help you realize new possibilities. Like our new work from anywhere solutions, so your teams can collaborate almost anywhere. Plus Customer Experience that finds solutions in the moment. And firstclass benefits, like 5g with every plan. Network, Support And Value without any tradeoffs. Thats tmobile for business. Some say this is my greatest challenge. Governments in record debt; inflation rising, currencies falling. But ive seen centuries of this. With one companion that hedges the risks you choose and those that choose you. The physical seam of a digital world, traded with a touch. My strongest and closest asset. The gold standard, so to speak ; people call my future uncertain. But theres one thing i am sure of. Im ordering some burritos oh, nice. Burritos . get a freshly made footlong from subway® instead. With crisp veggies on freshly baked bread. Just order in the App Ditch the burgers choose better, be better. Subway®. Eat fresh. Paying attention to the instructions from the judge, the first thing he wanted to correct was the tales about Carbon Monoxide. Where does that go . And whats your reaction to that being the first element here . Looks like well have to go back to the courthouse. Before the break we were talking about the controlled substances and the role they were levels they were found and the role they may have applied or contributed to mr. Floyds death. And i was suggesting to you that it is, again, this death needs to be looked at mr. Floyds death needs to be looked at as dr. Baker describes a multifactorial process. This is the way the human body works. The heart beats, the lungs breathes, the blood circulate, the brain controls all of our movements, all of this. And to simply come in and say, this particular substance or these combinations of substances, when taken in combination with each other, when taken in combination with of a person who has blockage in the heart, substantial, significant blockage in the heart, when we know that these drugs play a particular role in the in how the blood circulates, to just poopoo it and say it has nothing to do with anything is a preposterous notion. Yet dr. Baker, dr. Fowler, and dr. Thomas have all certified deaths at levels less than 11 nanograms or 19 nanograms or combination. These deaths have been certified on that basis alone. And it didnt necessarily contain any of the other issues that were confronting mr. Floyd on that day. Likewise, again, every other doctor that has testified has gone to great lengths to dismiss the role of mr. Floyds Heart Disease and hypertension in this case. Forensic pathologists define coronary Artery Disease resulting in Death Death can occur with 70 to 75 blockage. That is sufficient to cause the a persons death. Every pathologist who testified in this case has indicated likewise, that they have certified deaths with those types of blockage and attributed it to the coronary Artery Disease. Yet here again, this has played zero role. Dr. Rich testified, mr. Floyd had a healthy heart. Coronary Heart Disease, not relevant, according to the state. Hype hypertenseive disease, not relevant. Drugs acting to further constrict in an already deceased heart, not relevant. Adrenaline coarsing through mr. Floyds body, not relevant. What does adrenaline do . It further constricts the arteries. Adrenaline from the Paraganglioma Wasnt there, didnt happen, played no role. They just want you to ignore significant medical issues that presented to mr. Floyd. And the failure of the states experts to acknowledge any possibility, any possibility at all that any of these other factors in any way contributed to mr. Floyds death defies medical science and it defies Common Sense and reason. Now, Doctor Tobin describes the death of mr. Floyd essentially, as i understand again, to hypoxia, low oxygen, resulting in brain going to the brain. Low oxygen to the brain. Dr. Fowler also ascribes the death to hypoxic death but the heart was the muscle that did not get the oxygen. Resulting in a sudden cardiac arrythmia. The reasons that dr. Fowler dismissed the notion of Brain Hypoxia were because, number one, hypoxia of the Brain Results in certain observable symptoms. The brain demands more oxygen, right. It takes 20 of our oxygen to function the brain, even though its a smaller percentage of our body. It is the most sensitive to the loss of oxygen, and it reveals a progressive set of symptoms, confusion which was not exhibited, right, because if you compare if you compare the testimony about how whether mr. Floyd was intoxicated, well, he didnt exhibit any confusion, right . Restlessness, not exhibited. Shortness of breath, it was complained of, but that is also a sensation that can be caused by a sudden Cardiac Arrhythmia. Visual changes. Not complained of. Incoherent speaking. Not complained of. When someone is experiencing hypoxia to the brain as dr. Tobin stated, you would see an increased ventilation or respiratory rate. Dr. Tobin said it is a completely normal respiratory rate. 22 breaths per minute. The timeline in this case is consistent with a sudden Cardiac Arrhythmia. At 8 23 58 mr. Floyd speaks. I really cant breathe. If you can speak and have oxygen in your brain. At 8 24 09, he again verbalizes, please, i cant breathe indicating at 8 24 09 that his brain has oxygen and there is no impairment to his Airway. 39 seconds later, mr. Floyd goes limp. At 8 24 48. A person can hold their breath for 39 seconds, right . That does not result in hypoxia in 39 seconds. 27 seconds later, according to dr. Tobin, mr. Floyd takes his last breath. Its a total of 66 seconds. 1 minute and 6 seconds from the time we know that theres enough oxygen in his brain to speak, know occlusion to the Airway at that point, 66 seconds to his from his last word to his last breath. This timeline is consistent with a sudden Cardiac Arrhythmia. It is not consistent with the longer process of Brain Hypoxia. Dr. Fowlers time analysis was that mr. Floyd died from a Cardiac Arrhythmia due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive Cardio Vascular Disease during restraint by police. Other significant factors, fet nil intoxication, methamphetamine intoxication, possible Carbon Monoxide exposure and the paraganglioma. What role did mr. Did Carbon Monoxide play in mr. Floyds death . We dont know. Nothing was ever tested as far as the vehicle is concerned. We dont know if the car was emitting Carbon Monoxide. We dont know. One thing we do know is that it was running, and how can we tell that it was running, because in the video we watched earlier when Thomas Lane pulls in that Squad Cut at Cup Foods, he puts it in park, he never touches the keys of that vehicle and he gets out. The car was running. One last point to make. And i should be fairly quick with this. The Superceding Cause that was discussed. A Superceding Cause is a cause that comes after the defendants acts alters the natural sequence of events and is the sole cause of a result that would not have otherwise occurred. Now, lets look at the medical timeline here. We know that ems was called initially at code 2 at 8 20 11. We know that ems was stepped up to Code 3 at 8 21 35. We know that ems responded to Cup Foods based on the videos at 8 27 27. We know that ems called for fire at to 38 36. It takes approximately three minutes for ems and the arresting officers to put mr. Floyd into the ambulance and the ambulance pulls away from Cup Foods at 8 30 17. Fire responds to Cup Foods at 82 59. Thats 44 minutes and 15 seconds after they were closed. Thats pretty close in consideration of the Threeminute Expectation of miss hansen, but the ambulance had driven several blocks away to 36 and park arriving sometime between 8 31 and 8 33. And we know that because there are two exhibits, 62 and 63 that were introduced. 62 shows one Paramedic And Officer lane in the back. 63 shows two paramedics and Officer Lane in back. So somewhere between a minute and a half to three minutes to get to 36 and park where they began the resuscitative efforts. The first air is pumped into mr. Floyd per dr. Tobin at 20 35 06. Thats ten minutes after mr. Floyd went unconscious per dr. Tobin, but its 77 minutes and 46 seconds after ems responded to Cup Foods. We ultimately know that the ambulance left 36 and park at 8 48 23. It arrived at hcmc at 8 53, shortly after 8 53, so it took about five minutes to get from 36 and park to hcmc. What if you what would have happened if ems had started resuscitative efforts right away . What would have happened if rather than driving at 36 and park they went to the hospital . They would have been there in that time. Gramm not suggesting to you im not suggesting to you that the Ambulance Paramedics did anything wrong, but it raises the prospect of that continued delay in resuscitation. What if ems had administered narcan . We heard that it would not have hurt him but it could have helped him. Im not blaming the paramedics. More importantly than this anal in this analysis is it shows that Human Beings make decisions in highly stressful situations that they believe to be right in the very moment that it is occurring. Theres lots of what ifs that could have happened, what could have happened, what should have happened. Lots of them in lots of regards. We have to analyze this case from the perspective of a reasonable Police Officer at the precise moment with the fatality of the circumstances when it comes to the use of force. We have to look at the cause of death to determine did mr. Floyd die exclusively of asphyxia, or were there other contributing factors that were not the natural result of mr. Chauvins acts, right . Things that happened that were set in motion before mr. Chauvin ever arrived, the drug ingestion, right . The bad heart, the diseased heart, the hypertension. All of these things existed before mr. Chauvin arrived. The struggle, what role did the Struggle Play . We know based on a prior incident that mr. Floyds heart was beating at 219 160 in a situation where he was confronted by police and had ingested drugs. He didnt die that day. All of this, Ladies And Gentlemen of the jury, all of this when you take into consideration the presumption of innocence, the presumption of Innocence And Proof beyond a reasonable doubt. I would submit to you that it is nonsense to suggest that none of these other factors have any any role . That is not reasonable, and when you as members of the jury conclude your analysis of the evidence, when you reviewed the entirety of the evidence, when you review the law as written and you conclude it all within this all within a thorough honest analysis, the state has failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and, therefore, mr. Chauvin should be found not guilty of all counts. Thank you. Members of the. Theres an issue i need to discuss with the lawyers, so were going to send you back to your room for probably about five minutes. All right. Immediately before the court was ready to resume, the state indicated they wanted to talk in chambers but for curative

© 2024 Vimarsana

comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.