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George Floyd’s Friend and ‘Key Witness’ in Chauvin Trial Invokes 5th Amendment, Declines to Testify
theepochtimes.com ^ | 04.01.2021 | TOM OZIMEK

Posted on 04/01/2021 10:26:31 AM PDT by rxsid

George Floyd’s Friend and ‘Key Witness’ in Chauvin Trial Invokes 5th Amendment, Declines to Testify

A self-described key witness to the death of George Floyd—a longtime friend who was in the car with Floyd when police approached him—said through a lawyer that, if forced to testify about the incident, he’ll invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and remain silent.

Morries Lester Hall, who in a June 2020 interview with The New York Times called himself “a key witness to the cops murdering George Floyd” and said he was “going to be his voice” going forward, has asked the court to squash a subpoena calling on him to testify in the trial against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of murder.

Hall made his request via notice filed by the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office (pdf) on Wednesday.

“Mr. Morries Lester Hall, through undersigned counsel, hereby provides notice to all parties in this matter that if called to testify he will invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination,” said a notice filed by Assistant Public Defender Adrienne Cousins. “Therefore, counsel for Mr. Hall respectfully moves this court to quash the subpoena … and release Mr. Hall from any obligations therein.”

It is unclear why Hall doesn’t want to testify at the trial.

Floyd and Hall were both from Houston, Texas, and met through a Minneapolis pastor, Hall told The New York Times in the interview. Hall said he and Floyd had been in touch every day since 2016 and he considered Floyd a “confidant and mentor.”

Hall was in the passenger’s seat of the vehicle Floyd was in when he was approached by Minneapolis police officers on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill at nearby Cup Foods. One soundless clip captured by a Cup Foods security camera showed Floyd dressed in a black tank top approaching a cashier, making cheerful conversation, and putting his arm around a woman.

...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: antifa; blm; chauvin; chauvintrial; derekchauvin; donaldwilliams; ericnelson; floyd; georgefloyd; hall; hennepin; hennepincounty; michaelpadden; minneapolis; minnesota; morrieshall; morrieslesterhall; pleadthe5th; witness
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To: rxsid
George Floyd’s Friend and ‘Key Witness’ in Chauvin Trial Invokes 5th Amendment, Declines to Testify...from what I recall from past jury duty and judges' instructions, jurors are entitled to believe someone refusing to testify would have something negative to say about the case for the side which tried to call the witness - what would this friend have said - that Floyd was using drugs the day he died?......
61 posted on 04/01/2021 11:17:15 AM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: rxsid

Doesn’t matter...the jurors will lack the integrity and/or the intelligence to ponder that fact carefully. That cop’s gonna get 300 years...regardless of how much fentanyl was in that punks system...regardless of how much he resisted arrest...regardless of how many years he did for armed robbery...and regardless of what the *county* medical examiner concluded (of course the defense “experts” know they’re paid to chant “Mengele”).


62 posted on 04/01/2021 11:22:42 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Trump: "They're After You. I'm Just In The Way")
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To: Jeff Chandler
There's not a *single* person on earth with whom I've been in touch every day for four years. But then I'm not a filthy convicted felon junkie.
63 posted on 04/01/2021 11:25:29 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Trump: "They're After You. I'm Just In The Way")
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To: rxsid

Would full immunity defeat a fifth amendment claim?

I truly don’t know.


64 posted on 04/01/2021 11:27:38 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Trans Undocumented. Anti Woke Supremacist. Covid Abortionist.)
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To: rxsid

Big Bully Mike Brown who “Witnesses” claimed was “shot in the back” or “shot while trying to surrender” except when they were actually under oath indicated “well, I did not really see it” or they were somewhere near by where they really could not have seen the shooting.

(Per Eric Holders “Big Book of Mike the Thug Brown” Report.)


65 posted on 04/01/2021 11:29:48 AM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission
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To: rxsid

Just in time for riot season.


66 posted on 04/01/2021 11:48:19 AM PDT by MrBambaLaMamba (It's a lie. It's all lies. Use every opportunity to poison their data. )
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To: rxsid

Don’t do drugs.
Drugs are bad.
And they’ll make
your mother sad.


67 posted on 04/01/2021 11:48:27 AM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; ...

p


68 posted on 04/01/2021 11:48:36 AM PDT by bitt (America is the Home of the Brave, not the regime of the silenced.)
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To: rxsid

Agreed. The courts and the prosecutors are in bed together. That is why is hard to overturn obvious wrongful convictions.

The irony of this is the majority of prosecutors and judges are liberal democrats that stack the scales of justice against minorities and then blame racism on white republicans.

Just ask Amy Knoblocker.


69 posted on 04/01/2021 11:49:05 AM PDT by shotgun (welfare)
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To: pepsionice

The grocery store clerk who “feels guilty” for reporting the counterfeit issue, stated that Floyd was the second person to bring in the bogus $20 bill that day. (I’m not sure if this was clearly the exact same bill, or just a similar fake.). Wonder if Floyd’s pal was the first one trying to pass it...maybe an actual investigator could show him a pic and ask him.


70 posted on 04/01/2021 11:49:24 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: Tucsonican

I thought Floyd and his girlfriend were “committed Christians” and he was in Minneapolis to do “mission work.”


71 posted on 04/01/2021 11:49:48 AM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; ...

p


72 posted on 04/01/2021 11:55:41 AM PDT by bitt (America is the Home of the Brave, not the regime of the silenced.)
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To: rxsid

Morries Lester Hall could be Chauvin’s ticket to acquittal or at least reversal on appeal. Defense should demand Hall be given use immunity and forced to testify (no way he’s going to be prosecuted for anything at this point anyway). Not having his testimony very likely deprives Chauvin of a fair trial.


73 posted on 04/01/2021 11:57:33 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: qaz123
I not sure they have much to go on. They can argue to the court that he be compelled to testify. Not sure how that works when you have a an amendment to the US Constitution clearly stating that you don’t.

That's not what the Constitution says. You can't be compelled to testify against yourself. They can still compel him to testify and he would have to invoke the 5th on any questions that would incriminate him. But that could be a very beneficial thing to the defense. For example, he could not invoke the 5th if the defense asked him if Floyd was on drugs at the time of the incident, because that does not implicate him. If the defense then asked if he knew where Floyd got the drugs and he invoked the 5th, the implication the jury could take is that Floyd got the drugs from him. There are many things the defense could ask that would not fall under protections of the 5th Amendment, and depending upon the question, requiring him to invoke the 5th could be good for the defense as well.

74 posted on 04/01/2021 12:01:13 PM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: shotgun

Yup!


75 posted on 04/01/2021 12:22:33 PM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
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To: G Larry

I wasn’t there, I didn do nuffin, but this is what I saw.


76 posted on 04/01/2021 12:23:37 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Chewbarkah

Agreed!


77 posted on 04/01/2021 12:23:56 PM PDT by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
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To: rxsid

FYI....

Nice recap\reporting by this place

https://legalinsurrection.com

I’m on their daily email list and they have good stuff.


78 posted on 04/01/2021 12:24:04 PM PDT by stylin19a (Golf is a game invented by the same people who think music comes out of a bagpipe.)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Full immunity - free publicity to advertise your services.


79 posted on 04/01/2021 12:27:03 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: rxsid

In other words he is not willing to commit perjury repeating the lies he has been instructed to say.


80 posted on 04/01/2021 12:49:08 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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