Derek Chauvin refuses to testify at his trial, deliberations begin Monday

0



Death of George Floyd: Derek Chauvin refuses to testify at his trial, deliberations begin Monday – 20 minutes

Derek Chauvin’s trial is entering its final phase. After three weeks of hearing, the ex-police officer, on trial for the murder of George Floyd, who refused to testify under the 5th Amendment, will be determined on his fate in the coming days. This Monday, the prosecution and the defense will finish with the pleadings, by presenting their closing arguments. In the process, the jury will withdraw to deliberate and try to agree on a verdict. Then, in the event of guilt, Judge Cahill will determine, at a later date, a sentence likely to be between ten and fifteen years’ imprisonment at most, unless aggravating circumstances are found.

The prosecution can be based on the testimonies of about thirty witnesses. The Minneapolis police chief, the former superior of Derek Chauvin and several experts broke the law of silence, assuring that the actions of the accused were neither “justified” nor “reasonable”. A pulmonologist estimated that George Floyd had died of a “lack of oxygen” due to the weight of the ex-policeman on his neck and his lungs. The defense tried to put doubt in the head of the jury on the cause of a death caused, according to it, by a cardiac arrhythmia due to drugs, fentanyl and methamphetamines, and to partially blocked arteries.

Because a verdict must be pronounced unanimously, it only takes one of the 12 jurors to have a “reasonable doubt” to have a mistrial. In the event of a deadlock, the trial would be called off and the prosecutor would have to choose between dropping the charges, holding a new trial, or attempting to negotiate a sentence out of court with the defense.





Source link