USNews
Part of his [defense attorney Eric Nelson] strategy for defending Chauvin against murder and manslaughter charges has been to deflect responsibility for Floyd’s death last May 25 away from Chauvin — a white officer who prosecutors say knelt on the Black man’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes — and onto Floyd himself for using illegal drugs. An autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.
Nelson first played a short clip with the disputed quote, which came from another officer’s body camera video, during the testimony of Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who served as a prosecution use-of-force expert. The video shows a chaotic and noisy scene as Floyd, handcuffed and laying on his stomach, yelled and moaned in distress.
“Does it sound like he says, ‘I ate too many drugs?’” Nelson asked.
“I can’t make that out,” Stiger replied. Nelson let the subject drop with Stiger, but replayed the clip and posed the question again for the lead investigator from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Senior Special Agent James Reyerson.
The agent agreed with Nelson that that’s what Floyd appeared to say — a win for the defense.
But prosecutor Matthew Frank wasn’t going to let that stand. More
Hear Floyd’s words for yourself and decide what he said. Watch
According to famed criminal defense attorney, Mark Geragos, this was a bad week for the prosecution. I normally can’t stand listening to Geragos for more than a few minutes, but in the Chauvin trial, he’s been remarkable fair minded (so far). Watch
It really doesn’t matter what actually happened. This case will end up as the PTB want it to. Chauvin’s innocence or guilt are secondary to what the outcome will be. No matter what the verdict is, Minneapolis will burn. Probably to take the focus off of what they are really doing in the background. If what they are doing is exceptionally bad, expect the city to burn exceptionally hot.
I read an interesting article on American Thinker about today’s testimony. Sounded pretty compelling for the prosecution, actually. Chauvin, and perhaps others, had knees on Floyd’s back, not his neck – but testimony was that several minutes of not allowing his lungs to expand is what did him in. It does sound like a reasonable claim.
I don’t think any of the cops intentionally killed Floyd. And he certainly had a lot of drugs in his system. But it is possible that he would still be alive had they not kept him in that position.
Why is Floyd any better than the hundreds of innocent kids killed in the gangbanger crossfire every year. Where is the Show Trial and “Justice” for them? The hypocrisy boils my blood.
@Left Coast Dan, the defense has been laying a pretty good argument that the officers on the scene were unable to let Floyd up off the ground for a couple of different reasons.
Earlier testimony established that Floyd still kicked one of the officers as he was being restrained. In addition, the defense showed body cam video of the hostile crowd. Then had the prosecutions expert witnesses testify that it was normal procedure to restrain a suspect in distress until the EMT arrived to transport the individual to the hospital when a crowd turns nasty, as that one clearly did.
At what point does any responsibility for Floyd’s own death fall on him? When he ingested 3 times the lethal dose of fentanyl and methamphetamine? When he resisted the officers? When the crowd gathered because Floyd was putting on such an intriguing show?
Better for one man to die than the whole nation perish.
Better for one man to go to prison than for the whole city to suffer.
There’s always a good reason to frame the innocent.
I predict mass rioting regardless of the outcome.
Tribes gonna be tribal.
Chewed pills found in the back of the cruiser with his DNA on it.
He was most likely trying to swallow more evidence.
I’m wondering if the prosecution really doesn’t want to win the case and is subtly throwing it to the defense.