four confirmed dead at this hour. the cause of this is still unknown. that part of it just beginning. my niece and her husband and her son were on the seventh floor. i m asking everybody to pray for survivors. my nephew was here with his wife and three small children. 2, 6 and 9. you never lose hope. martha: never lose hope. rachel is among those that are hopeful today as this process continues. her mom, judy is unaccounted for. rachel will join us in just a moment. we re watching the minneapolis courtroom team. chauvin is on the left side of your screen. the former police officer convicted in the killing of george floyd is about to find out how many years he will spend behind bars. we may hear from derek chauvin for the first time during this process and we ll watch that live throughout the course of this hour. that s where we find matt finn. today is a big day, matt. martha, derek chauvin is looking different. three members of george floyd s family have given impa
another woman that the prosecutor identified, and then they obviously, the judge had to identify her simply as to how she was dressed. her name hasn t been put in the record yet but genevieve hanson who we know from opening statements was a firefighter who came up on the scene who repeatedly said check his pulse, please check his pulse. why is it so important? again, you have one witness saying this other witness arrived, she asked to check his pulse, not just once, but repeatedly and she described officer chauvin who she said number one did in the check his pulse and in her view, her eyewitness view, started to lean even harder, kneel even harder. simple answer, there is strength in numbers. and corroboration is the key for any successful prosecution. even if the evidence is quite clear, even if the verbal responses you re hearing are obvious and audible you still do need to understand that there are jurors here and jurors need to have that strength in number. of course th
doesn t warn against using the apps altogether but suggest doing some research about the privacy policy before you download. that was liz mcloughlin reporting. it is the top of the hour. very good to be with you for this special report on the derek chauvin murder trial. it sparked months of protest and international reckoning on racial justice. minneapolis police officer derek chauvin scene with his knee on george floyd s neck for roughly 9 minutes. now sheldon faces justice in court charged with murder and manslaughter. juries almost never convict police officers. will this time be different? this case is a slamdunk because we know the video is the proof. let s look back on the trial s dramatic first week. derek chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do. he was anything other than incident on may 25, 2020. you can t blame it on being angry. what did we learn? how is each side making their cases and what will next week bring? from nbc news world headquarters
news meeting with my staff and talking people in the building today, everyone is very excited you ve got these lawyers. i haven t heard these prosecutors speak outside the courtroom, other than the immediate aftermath of that historic case. i m in awe that you ve got them and i m not going to help you believe any less nervous about it. we are lucky to have them. thank you rachel. thanks lawrence good. look i grew up in courtrooms. courtrooms and baseball fields i guess. i have been to more trials than i can remember. my final other became a lawyer when i was a baby. he went to night school, for college and law school while he was working full-time as a boston police officer. it was after years of sitting on the witness stand as a police officer, and thinking that he could do a better job than the lawyers who were questioning him. that he decided to become a lawyer. lawyer-ing would not have look so easy for him, from that witness stand, if he had been questioned by our
response. he does not let up and even when mr. floyd doesn t have a pulse, it continues on and it continues on, ladies and gentlemen, even after the ambulance arrives on the scene. jerry blackwell for the prosecution, but we also heard from defense lawyer eric nelson asking the jury to consider all of the evidence in the case not just the widely circulated video. common sense tells you that there are always two sides to a story. common sense tells us that we need to examine the totality of the circumstances to determine the meaning of evidence and how it can be applied to the questions of reasonableness, of actions and reactions. there is no political or social cause in this courtroom, but the evidence is far greater than nine minutes and 29 seconds. nbc s jack brewster is in minneapolis. let s talk first of all, about what we heard from the prosecution and the defense today and what you are seeing around you. i know there was a news conference earlier with the today