Derek Chauvin Trial: Jury Begins Verdict Deliberations

MINNEAPOLIS — The murder case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chavuin is now in the hands of a Hennepin County jury, which began deliberations Monday after state prosecutors and the defense made their closing arguments.

Chauvin faces third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and second-degree unintentional murder charges in George Floyd's Memorial Day 2020 death. The 12 members of the jury will be sequestered away from friends and family until they make a unanimous decision on the charges.

Both the state and the defense will hope to have made a lasting impression on the jury with their final arguments, which offered competing theories for why Floyd died.

The state laid the blame solely at the feet of Chauvin.

"On May 25, 2020, George Floyd died faced down on the pavement," state prosecutor Steve Schleicher told jurors in his closing argument Monday. "Nine minutes and 29 seconds. Throughout this time George Floyd struggled to breathe."

"What the defendant did to George Floyd killed him," Schleicher added. "It was ruled a homicide. The defendant is charged with murder."

Schleicher praised the "noble" police profession in his closing statement and noted that "this case is called the state of Minnesota versus Derek Chauvin. This is not called the state of Minnesota versus the police."

"This is not an anti-police prosecution. It's a pro-police prosecution."

Chauvin took "pride over policing," said Schleicher. "George Floyd paid for it with his life."

Meanwhile, Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson, closed Monday by saying Chauvin's actions on Memorial Day were consistent with what a "reasonable police officer" would do.

Nelson said Floyd died because of illegal drug use and his own poor health, which included heart disease.

Jury deliberations

Judge Peter Cahill will allow the jury to deliberate each day until 7 p.m., reports the Star Tribune. If the jury reaches a verdict in the evening, Cahill will wait for safety reasons to have it read until the following morning.

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Chauvin did not testify

Chauvin told the court Thursday that he would use his constitutional right not to testify in his own trial. "I will invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege today," Chauvin said.

Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, has spent the past month arguing that drugs and heart disease, not Chauvin's restraint, killed Floyd.

State prosecutors, however, say Floyd's behavior in his final moments was not consistent with a drug overdose. In his opening statement, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said that people dying from an overdose are "not screaming for their lives" as Floyd did.

The autopsy report from Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, did note fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd's system. However, Floyd's official cause of death was attributed to "cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression."

Baker testified that while drugs and heart disease played a role in Floyd's death, they were not "direct causes." The restraint Floyd suffered under Chauvin was "more than Mr. Floyd could take," Baker told the jury.

Baker's answers came after testimony from Dr. Martin Tobin, a forensic toxicology expert. Floyd died because of a lack of oxygen, according to Tobin. "A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died as a result of what he was subjected to," Tobin told the court.

A city on edge

Resources from "Operation Safety Net" — a coordinated effort between the Minnesota National Guard, state patrol and local law enforcement to maintain peace after the verdict in the murder ongoing trial against Chauvin — have been deployed in Brooklyn Center and throughout the Twin Cities metro since last week because of the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright.

Wright's death sparked another round of unrest in the metro even as Chauvin's trial continued.

After's Floyd death in May 2020, nearly 1,500 Twin Cities businesses were damaged by vandalism, thefts, and fire, according to the state government. Estimates of the damage exceed $500,000,000.

Minneapolis Public Schools are suspending in-person learning this week as the state awaits a verdict in the murder trial against Chauvin. Read more.

Brooklyn Center police shooting

Following the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center last week, Nelson asked Judge Peter Cahill to sequester the jury, citing how the news may affect their verdict in Chauvin's trial. Cahill said he would wait to sequester the jury until after the trial's closing arguments.

Who Is Eric Nelson, Derek Chauvin's Attorney In Floyd's Death

At the front and center of the trial is Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson. Viewers of the trial may be curious about Nelson's background. Read more.

The death of George Floyd

Just after 8 p.m. on May 25, Minneapolis police responded to the Cup Foods store on 38th Street and Chicago Avenue South in Minneapolis on a report of a "forgery in progress."

Police were told that a suspect was sitting on top of a blue car and appeared to be under the influence. Two officers arrived and found Floyd, 44, in his car. He was ordered to step out and was arrested.

In video of the incident, Floyd is heard telling officers "I can't breathe" while being forced down onto the street. He also asks for water.

Bystanders tell Derek Chauvin — who had his knee on Floyd's neck — to get off of him. A second officer — Tou Thao — ordered people to back away from the scene.

Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for at least nine minutes and removed it when Floyd was taken away in a stretcher, according to prosecutors.

All four officers who were at the scene were fired the next day, and have since been criminally charged.

Thao, Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane all face charges of aiding and abetting unintentional second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Those three former officers will stand in court together on Aug. 23.