Chauvin Murder Trial

[Irreligious Atheist]

That is true, but there can be reasonable doubt and still be nothing there. A defendant doesn't have to prove their innocence. Just cast some type of reasonable doubt. Seeking alternative meaning whether there is any or not is exactly what the jurors job is. They have to eliminate any reasonable doubt. Yes, Chauvin's actions most probably played a significant role in Floyd's death. I'd agree with those that said it was manslaughter rather than 2nd degree murder though. The point that I saw Mark Geragos make for doubt was that Floyd died of hypoxia, and fentanyl can cause hypoxia. People have said that wouldn't have happened at the level of fentanyl he had in him, but all the expert witnesses also testified that there is no safe level of fentanyl. The autopsy also stated that the drugs contributed to his death, as did his heart disease.

The emotion around the case and wanting Chauvin to pay was totally understandable, and I know if he wasn't found guilty of 2nd degree murder, it would have been seen as unacceptable and this would have been the last straw and people would have been more outraged than ever and feel like they could never get justice if they couldn't get justice this time, but when I look at a case, I can't look at it like that. The idea of innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt is always going to trump one particular family getting justice. I'd rather see 100 guilty men go free than one innocent man locked up, whether that's a cop, a gang member, or anyone else.

 You think that because you don't understand the charges, no matter how many times they've been explained and reexplained to you.  If twenty other things contributed to floyds death, chauvins knee was still one of them - and that's enough for a murder charge.  There's no reasonable doubt that chauvins knee was among the things that contributed to the mans death.

Charged with and convicted for extreme recklessness in the process of committing an assault which led to a mans death.  AKA, exactly what you, I, and everyone else saw him do for a good ten minutes..... on video.

It's not factual that the knee contributed to the death. We can't be 100 percent sure. Floyd said many times that he couldn't breathe before he was taken to the ground. He said he was dying or going to die before he was taken to the ground. We don't know if he swallowed drugs right before this, and if he did, his friends already said that he was passing out before and they couldn't wake him, so if you add more drugs on top of that if he swallowed any more, then the drugs are going to be affecting him even more. There's a chance his body just gave out from the drugs and his health conditions. Now, you might say there's only a 1 in a million chance of that or 1 in 10 million or 1 in 100 million chance. If we say that maybe there was a 1 in 500 chance of that happening, or 1 in 1000 chance, then that can be argued as reasonable doubt. I don't know if the doubt was reasonable, so I probably would have tried to convince my fellow jurors to settle for manslaughter.

The officers were clearly taught that if you can talk, you can breathe just fine, because they kept saying that to George as he was complaining about not being able to breathe. Better training is obviously needed. When Floyd was being held down, he was kicking. The one lady almost got pepper sprayed by Chauvin because she was beyond irresponsible and walked right up to them, distracting the officers and only making the situation worse. That one witness told Chauvin he was a fighter and trained in MMA, and technically his hands and feet can be counted as registered weapons, so they were somewhat concerned about him. The officers were too distracted by the witnesses and that shouldn't have been the case. Chauvin should have let the other officers focus on the crowd, and focused on what he was doing. He f'd up there. I don't know how much pressure was being put on him after he passed out or why they didn't do cpr, but I don't see murder. I see manslaughter. What's done is done though. The trial is over and the verdict was what it was. I'm not going to go on beating a dead horse. A 12 year sentence to be reduced with good behaviour doesn't sound that unfair.