Court will resume at 2:30 p.m. EDT, 1:30 p.m. CDT, 12:30 p.m. MDT, and 11:30 a.m. PDT.
Good afternoon all. The morning started with a Motion to Quash subpoena from the defense. The subject of the subpoena is Morris Hall, one of the alleged drug dealers who allegedly supplied George Floyd with at least fentanyl and possibly heroin. He was on video off site. His lawyer, Attorney Cousins, did a good job re: her 5th Amendment argument.
Judge Cahill asked Defense Attorney Nelson to provide some questions that didn’t involve the issues Attorney Cousins raised. He proceeded to list all but one question that related to Attorney Cousins’ argument. Sheesh. The only one the Judge latched on to was regards to Hall’s testifying to what he saw of Mr. Floyd’s demeanor in his vehicle. Did he fall asleep? Cousins argued that the statute for 3rd degree murder when it involves a chain of involvement with drugs that ends in a death is too broad and even that testimony could incriminate her client.
Prosecutor agreed but his argument focused more on the effect of Hall claiming the 5th on the jury. We know juries are instructed not to construe anything about that but they do — and so do most of us. This was followed by the concept of a blanket claim of the 5th which the judge said, as far as he knows, doesn’t exist in MN case law or statute. He was impressively prepared and cited a number of cases in other State jurisdictions which didn’t accept blanket claims. Ergo, the witness has to plead to individual questions.
Judge told Nelson to make a list of questions by Thurs. Prosecutor was free to do the same and the Judge would revisit later.
First witness was MPD Sgt. Ker Yang. Crisis Intervention Coordinator. Impressive background. MA and PhD in psychology. Basically went through the training program which is opposite of what Chauvin et al. did to Mr. Floyd. I was new fridge interruptus so missed some of the testimony. zebz monkey did a great job with details.
Second witness was MPD Lieutenant Johnny Mercil. Use of force trainer. Personally trained in Brazilian jujitsu which uses body and leverage rather than punching and kicking. He was the witness I thought Nelson made his best use of re: neck compression and prone position issues. When I say, best, I mean not utterly terrible and embarrassing. The angry crowd thing was a thing but Nelson kept using the picture of Chauvin looking blandly at the bystanders whilst his knee was on Mr. Floyd’s neck. Good redirect to clean some stuff up.
What has struck me so far is how instructive this case is. It should be used as a law school class on courtroom decorum, how to enter evidence, how to question a witness, how not to question a witness, and how to instruct your client not to piss of the judge. I wish I had the benefit prior to my first piddly case.
I don’t know who the afternoon witnesses are.