Posted on 06/09/2020 1:20:27 AM PDT by knighthawk
California Sen Kamala Harris said Monday that it will be very difficult to convict white Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd, as the officer made his first appearance in court.
During an appearance on The View, Harris said: 'The evidence surrounding George Floyd's death I think without an question support the charges against him [Chauvin] but it will not be easy to get a conviction because it is still the case that jurors are inclined to trust police officers.'
The senator continued: 'That has been part of the difficulty that so many prosecutors have had when they brought these cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
kamala knows a thing or three about how to be ‘easy’
lol
Kamala Harris’ judicial speculation reveals her lack of critical thinking and a mind filled in Cultural Marxist delusion.
Drunks and druggies often pee themselves...that doesn’t mean they are dead...
He could hardly walk ...he fell twice...they had to help him...When he was sitting on the sidewalk with his back against the building he kept falling sidewards...he couldn’t even sit up...
It doesn’t mean they are dead but it should raise concern when combined with unresponsiveness. I am not shedding any tears for mr floyd. He was a thug. That doesn’t make the cops actions right or excusable
I agree with you. !st degree murder charges will be difficult to prove. Not a lawyer, but my understanding of the charges is that prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the police officer planned the murder in advance (premeditation) and that killing the guy was the officers intent.
The guy could barely walk,,,he kept falling over when he was sitting on the sidewalk...as he sat there he was hardly responsive...for some reason they had called an ambulance...
This was not a man who had just come out of the gym where he could bench press 600 pounds or something...
He was up to his eye balls in fentanyl which knocks you out and Meth which makes you violent...
I think the problem is that they overcharged him. There’s no way of denying the video evidence of excessive use of force and no way of denying that this contributed to Floyd’s death, but It’s not murder. They often overcharge when they want a show trial and it usually backfires on them.
Trial by media - no evidence only emotion - guilty
Trial in a court of law with evidence (possible) not guilty
Like a lot of these cases we are only hearing a filtered one sided account of what happened.
I will wait until all the evidence is presented before making up my mind.
I think Ellison wants to lose so they can keep the rioting going for a long time.
They overcharge in cases when they believe the accused will accept a plea bargain for the lesser charge,,in this case 3rd degree or manslaughter. However there is no chance the political climate would allow a plea bargain in this case. And the jury would be hard pressed to find him not guilty of the maximum for fear of more street violence in their community.
First, the venue has to be removed from Minneapolis. No way he could get a fair trial there. Any juror who said he knew nothing of the matter or had formed an opinion is a liar.
The cop wasn't gentle but there was no intention to kill the guy.
none on his chest either.
I believe he collapsed deliberately...that’s a very old game.
Since George Floyd’s death the MPD changed the protocols for “neck restraint” for lack of a better term. The manner in which he was restrained with knee on neck was a part of their policies. So, no, he did not violate restraint protocol and knee on the neck was not prohibited by MPD.
Also, it does not appear from autopsy results that his “windpipe” was “crushed.”
Having said this, doing anything around the neck in a takedown is a bad idea for reasons other than “crushing the windpipe”. So, it’s good they changed that aspect of their policy but it was too late for George Floyd.
No evidence on autopsy of an MI. But even if there was he died in handcuffs with someone kneeling on his neck for 5 minutes after he was unresponsive with no attempt to check on his condition or render aid. You don’t even have to take a knee off the neck to check a pulse. That is what is criminal.
The official cause of death is cardiopulmonary arrest, not myocardial infarction.
I would invite attention to the jury instruction given in the O.J. Simpson case as instructive.
Judge Lance Ito, Instruction to the Jury, 23 Jan 1995, People v OJ Simpson
Both direct evidence and circumstantial evidence are acceptable as a means of proof. Neither is entitled to any greater weight than the other.However, a finding of guilt as to any crime may not be based on circumstantial evidence unless the proved circumstances are not only, one, consistent with the theory that the defendant is guilty of the crime, but, two, cannot be reconciled with any other rational conclusion.
Further, each fact which is essential to complete a set of circumstances necessary to establish the defendant's guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In other words, before an inference essential to establish guilt may be found to have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, each fact or circumstance upon which such inference necessarily rests must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Also, if the circumstantial evidence as to any particular count is susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, one of which points to the defendant's guilt and the other to his innocence, you must adopt that interpretation which points to the defendant's innocence and reject that interpretation which points to his guilt.
If, on the other hand, one interpretation of such evidence appears to you to be reasonable and the other interpretation to be unreasonable, you must accept the reasonable interpretation and reject the unreasonable.
A major problem with the evidence in the Floyd case is that it is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation or more than one rational conclusion. In such case, as a matter of law, the juror is instructed that he or she must adopt the interpretation or conclusion most favorable to the defense.
The official cause of death for George Floyd is listed as Cause of death: Cardiopumonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression. The autopsy found s Fentanyl level of 11 ng/mL, Norfentanyl of 5.6 ng/mL and Methamphetamine 19 ng/mL plus heart disease. One reasonable interpretation of this data is that George Floyd suffered a coronary arrest (not a heart attack) due to Fentanyl intoxication, complicated by other drugs and health conditions. It is reasonable to conclude that George Floyd became nonresponsive when he suffered the coronary arrest. Other interpretations may be reasonable and rational, but the one most favorable to the defendant must be adopted for purposes of determining criminal guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
At the point George Floyd suffered a coronary arrest, outside of a hospital, statistics indicate he had a less than 4% chance of survival. The presence of very signficant Fentanyl intoxication would seem to make that chance optimistic.
The prevailing COVID-19 conditions contra-indicated performance of CPR by anyone, regardless of how well qualified, even in a hospital setting, until proper Personnel Protective Equapment (PPE) was available, including a face shield.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2010758
CPR is resource-intensive and may pose risks to clinicians. In cases of cardiopulmonary arrest occurring outside intensive care units (ICUs), successful resuscitation typically requires transfer to an ICU and mechanical ventilation. Under crisis conditions, however, the hospital may have no available ICU beds or ventilators. If these resources are not available, there may be little role for resuscitation.CPR for in-hospital arrest has limited effectiveness. Excluding patients in specific settings such as cardiac catheterization labs, where arrhythmic arrests are rapidly reversible, only about 25% of patients who have an in-hospital cardiac arrest survive to hospital discharge.
[...]
Third, ensuring the safety of personnel justifies selective constraints on resuscitation. Under crisis standards of care, substantial risks to health care workers may outweigh very small chances of providing benefit to a particular patient. Professional society guidelines recommend protective measures that may alter resuscitation practices and the potential for success. These include consistent use of PPE by the code team, performance of intubation by experienced personnel, and use of mechanical CPR where available.
To protect health care workers in a manner consistent with the ethical framework we’ve outlined, we believe that resuscitation should commence only after the code team has donned appropriate PPE, including a face shield for the person performing intubation. Institutions should not require resuscitation if appropriate PPE is not available. If no member of the code team is sufficiently experienced at emergency intubation, the team should perform only interventions that can be delivered safely (e.g., defibrillation and compression-only CPR with supplemental oxygen) until an appropriate clinician arrives. At the same time, we believe that adequately trained responders who have appropriate PPE should not be allowed to refuse to perform CPR out of concern for personal safety, except in patients with refractory deterioration. (Our recommendations assume that clinicians with contraindications to caring for patients with Covid-19 have been deployed elsewhere.)
What Officer Chauvin did was wrong in failing to properly monitor Floyd, detect non-responsiveness in a timely manner, and cease the restraint effort in a timely manner. At issue is what is his provable criminal liability?
He cannot be convicted of murder or homicide if the victim could reasonably succumbed to Fentanyl toxicity.
Wanton disregard for human life cannot be based on a failure to provide CPR in a pandemic when CPR is contra-indicated.
The precise time of death after cardiac arrest is unknown. Death was possibly or probably inevitable when the cardiac arrest occurred. It is my understanding that when emergency personnel arrived, a defibrillator was used, but Floyd did not respond.
As Officer Chauvin did fail to adhere to the policy guidelines in using the restraint hold, perhaps a related charge could be made.
609.221 ASSAULT IN THE FIRST DEGREE.Subdivision 1.Great bodily harm.
Whoever assaults another and inflicts great bodily harm may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 20 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $30,000, or both.
609.222 ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE.
Subdivision 1.Dangerous weapon.
Whoever assaults another with a dangerous weapon may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than seven years or to payment of a fine of not more than $14,000, or both.
609.223 ASSAULT IN THE THIRD DEGREE.
Subdivision 1.Substantial bodily harm.
Whoever assaults another and inflicts substantial bodily harm may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.
A problem for the prosecution is that the autopsy reveals no substantial bodily harm. "No life threatening injuries identified." The autopsy cites "No injuries of anterior muscles of neck or laryngeal structures." And the autopsy finds, "Incision and subcutaneous dissection of posterior and lateral neck, shoulders, back, flanks, and buttocks negative for occult trauma."
The added charge of felony assault serves as the predicate felony for the added charge of felony murder in the second degree. If the assault charge fails, the felony murder charge fails with it, for lack of a predicate felony.
The law ehforcers' response was according to proper procedure. It was not brutality--only lookd to be asseen by uninformed ;aymen observers steered by false claims of opportunistic anarchists in a pre-planned widespead schedule coincident with favorable early summer weather.
There was no evidence of a dissecting aortic aneurysm on autopsy and if he had had one it would have been impossible to miss. He did not have a “heart attack” if, by that, you are talking about an infarction caused by occlusion of the coronary arteries.
He almost certainly experienced sudden death mostly likely from a heart rhythm disturbance which he was at risk of as a result of an “enlarged heart” found on autopsy. This may have been secondary to hypertension which he was diagnosed with or perhaps a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Alternatively, he may have had carotid sinus syndrome and pressure on his carotid sinuses may have caused a malignant heart rhythm disturbance.
All of these possibilities are more likely because of substance abuse.
These are some of the problems law enforcement has with takedowns in the field. People are frequently intoxicated on who knows what and there is no available medical history for them to take precautions from.
That, and the fact 3rd degree murder is the appropriate charge.
2nd degree is a different standard and harder to prove with known facts
“””’Jurors are inclined to trust video imagery too.”””””””
i’ve been on a Minneapolis jury a few times and I am on the roster for Federal Jury duty this summer.
Some of us look at all the facts. Cardiac arrest, fentanyl intoxication, meth, KungFlu and who knows what else the final tox report will say.
The defense team will hire medical experts who can explain it all.
To prove these four cops intended to kill Saint George in broad daylight in front of a crowd is quite a stretch.
And many here are not all that sympathetic to the cause after the ghetto trash burned down the town.
2nd degree murder conviction requires intent - that will be difficult to prove.
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