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.
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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”).
Would full immunity defeat a fifth amendment claim?
I truly don’t know.
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.)
Just in time for riot season.
Don’t do drugs.
Drugs are bad.
And they’ll make
your mother sad.
p
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.
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.
I thought Floyd and his girlfriend were “committed Christians” and he was in Minneapolis to do “mission work.”
p
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.
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.
Yup!
I wasn’t there, I didn do nuffin, but this is what I saw.
Agreed!
FYI....
Nice recap\reporting by this place
I’m on their daily email list and they have good stuff.
Full immunity - free publicity to advertise your services.
In other words he is not willing to commit perjury repeating the lies he has been instructed to say.
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