Will Derek Chauvin testify? A defense attorney says ‘the jury needs to hear from him, that’s the bottom line’
Updated Apr 11, 2021;
Posted Apr 11, 2021
In this image from video, defense attorney Eric Nelson and defendant Derek Chauvin listened before jury selection at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)TNS
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MINNEAPOLIS As former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s defense presents its case this week against charges that he murdered George Floyd, a question looms over his trial: Will Chauvin testify in his own defense?
Under the U.S. Constitution, defendants have a right to refrain from testifying without penalty, but some local attorneys said there are compelling reasons for Chauvin to get on the witness stand.
Accused of killing Floyd, will Chauvin testify in his own defense?
In this image from video, defendant, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, listens as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Friday, April 9, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. Chauvin is charged in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
Published April 12. 2021 2:48AM
Chao Xiong
MINNEAPOLIS As former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin s defense presents its case this week against charges that he murdered George Floyd, a question looms over his trial: Will Chauvin testify in his own defense?
Under the U.S. Constitution, defendants have a right to refrain from testifying without penalty, but some local attorneys said there are compelling reasons for Chauvin to get on the witness stand.
MINNEAPOLIS As former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's defense presents its case this week against charges that he murdered George Floyd, a question looms over his trial: Will Chauvin testify in his own defense? Under the U.S. Constitution, defendants have a right to refrain from testifying without penalty, but some local attorneys said there are compelling reasons for Chauvin to .
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As former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin s defense presents its case this week against charges that he murdered George Floyd, a question looms over his trial: Will Chauvin testify in his own defense?
Under the U.S. Constitution, defendants have a right to refrain from testifying without penalty, but some local attorneys said there are compelling reasons for Chauvin to get on the witness stand. You ve got to remember that this is a case that really centers on Chauvin s state of mind, and the best person to tell us about that would be Chauvin, so you might really be forced to put him on in this case, said veteran defense attorney Joe Friedberg.
Nearly a year after a bystander’s video of George Floyd’s death sent shock waves across the world, prosecutors and defense attorneys face a seemingly insurmountable task in the trial of the officer charged with killing him: choosing an impartial jury.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the murder and manslaughter case against ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill’s 18th-floor courtroom. By the time the prospective jurors arrive for questioning, the state’s prosecutors and defense attorney Eric Nelson will have mined their 14-page questionnaires in search of anything that indicates overt bias.