Good morning. The trial begins at 9:15 a.m. CDT, 10:15 EDT, 8:15 MDT, and 7:15 PDT. Tune in at the top of the hour to see if there’s anymore house keeping. The judge dealt with several video issues at the end of the day yesterday.
All I can say is, gird your loins. If today is anything like yesterday, have some extra strength Excedrin and a bottle of scotch at your elbow. Yesterday’s witnesses were as follows: retired cop Scott Creighton — not helpful; retired paramedic Michelle Mosing — not helpful; Shawana Hill — not helpful; Park Police Officer Peter Chang — not helpful; MPD medical trainer Nicole McKenzie — not helpful; use of force “expert” — really, really, really not helpful. I did consider them all helpful to the prosecution. Cross examination is a dangerous thing. I addressed the first five in my afternoon diary, Liveblog II: Day 12 The Chauvin Murder Trial. The use of force guy is impossible to describe so please read and rec Lauren Floyd’s Defense expert claims George Floyd should have been 'resting comfortably' with knee on his neck. Her roundup diaries are consistently excellent and supplemented by video. Yes, he said that and other shite. Cold, unemotional, never looked at the jury once. Also I recommend reading WaPo’s Robin Givhan’s “Perspective” The objective reasonableness of fear: Chauvin’s defense team used this key ingredient to justify use of force.
I’m not sure if the defense’s “expert” Medical Examiner will be on today but this factoid will be of interest in cross examination: Derek Chauvin’s witnesses include former Maryland medical examiner being sued over ‘chillingly similar’ case. Three white cops and a white civilian pinned Anton Black to the ground. He died. MD Medical Examiner David Fowler.
A report signed by Fowler and an assistant medical examiner deemed Black’s manner of death to be an accident. They said he “died of sudden cardiac death” due to heart issues and described bipolar disorder as “a significant contributing condition.”
Their examination noted that Black “suffered cardiac arrest while being restrained by law enforcement” and added that based on the investigation and Black’s autopsy, it was “likely that the stress of his struggle contributed to his death.”
“However, no evidence was found that restraint by law enforcement directly caused or significantly contributed to the decedent’s death; in particular, no evidence was found that restraint led to the decedent being asphyxiated,” they wrote.
Not sure what other witness gems he has in store for today.
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