Trial of Derek Chauvin

Background

Murder of George Floyd

Arrest, charges, and bail

Pre-trial proceedings

Trial

Judge and attorneys

Jury

Opening statements

Prosecution case

Prosecution witnesses

• Jena Scurry, a 911 dispatcher who received the call about Floyd using a counterfeit bill; she viewed Floyd's arrest via live video, and was concerned about the manner of his arrest, leading her to call a police sergeant about the arrest.
• Alisha Oyler, a bystander who filmed Floyd's murder.
• Donald Williams II, a bystander and professional MMA fighter, who testified that Chauvin's kneeling on Floyd's neck was applying a "blood choke", that Chauvin was "shimmying to actually get the final choke in" on Floyd, that the arrest procedure was "torture", and that he called 911 on Chauvin because he believed he had "witnessed a murder".
• Darnella Frazier and three other underage witnesses who witnessed Floyd's murder testified off-camera. Frazier is the witness who recorded the widely circulated video that challenged the initial police report. She testified that Floyd was "terrified, scared, begging for his life", and saying "I can't breathe", while Chauvin "just stared at us" with "this cold look".
• Genevieve Hansen, a bystander and EMT-certified firefighter of the Minneapolis Fire Department, who witnessed Floyd's condition and wanted to treat him but was not allowed. Hansen said she saw that Floyd "had an altered state of consciousness", because he was not responding to the "painful stimuli" of Chauvin's knee on his neck. She wanted to check Floyd for consciousness, start chest compressions, as well as render other medical attention, but was denied access to Floyd by the police.
• Christopher Martin, an employee at Cup Foods who allegedly received the counterfeit bill from Floyd. Martin said "it would appear that was high" but that he was able to talk and communicate.
• Christopher Belfrey, a bystander parked behind Floyd's SUV who began recording a video after seeing officer Lane point a gun at Floyd.
• Charles McMillian, a bystander who had a conversation with Floyd when Floyd was in the police car.
• Lt. Jeff Rugel, head of the MPD's business technology unit, who was familiar with police body camera footage.
• Courteney Ross, Floyd's girlfriend, who testified that Floyd struggled with an opioid addiction after using opioids to treat back pain, that he had once been hospitalized for an overdose, and that he was in the car with a supplier at the time of his arrest. She cried while describing her relationship with Floyd.
• Seth Bravinder and Derek Smith, Hennepin paramedics who responded to the scene of Floyd's murder and testified that they saw no signs of breathing or movement by Floyd when they arrived, that they detected no heartbeat once they were allowed access to Floyd, and that they failed to resuscitate Floyd. Smith said that when they arrived, he believed Floyd was already dead.
• Capt. Jeremy Norton of the MFD, who responded to the scene and reported what happened to his supervisors. Norton said he "was worried that a man had been killed in police custody".
• Ret. Sgt. David Pleoger, a police supervisor. 911 dispatcher Scurry called him to report her concern about the arrest. Pleoger arrived at the scene after Floyd was taken away in an ambulance. Pleoger testified that the arresting officers "could have ended their restraint" of Floyd once he stopped resisting them while handcuffed on the ground.
• Sgt. Jon Edwards of the MPD, who testified that he responded to the crime scene, told Lane and Kueng to turn on their body cameras, and attempted to interview witnesses.
• Lt. Richard Zimmerman, an MPD homicide investigator and its most senior officer. Zimmerman testified that Chauvin's kneeling on Floyd's neck for an extended period of time was "totally unnecessary" and that such a move "can kill". Zimmerman further testified that once suspects are handcuffed, "the threat level goes down all the way", and the police "need to get them out of the prone position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing".
• Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld, the Emergency Medicine resident physician at Hennepin County Medical Center who pronounced Floyd dead. He testified that for any person whose heart had stopped, the chance of survival decreases by 10%–15% every minute that cardiopulmonary resuscitation is not attempted.
• Medaria Arradondo, chief of the MPD. Arradondo testified that Chauvin violated department policy, training and ethics by continuing to restrain Floyd in that manner at various stages: when Floyd had ceased resisting, was "no longer responsive", and was "motionless". Alongside citing the "sanctity of life" and the "duty of care", Arradondo added that Chauvin had violated department policy by not deescalating the situation when possible, and by not providing immediate medical attention to Floyd.
• Inspector Katie Blackwell, who was the commander of the MPD's training division at the time of Floyd's murder. Blackwell testified that MPD policy was to train officers to use their arms to carry out a neck restraint on a suspect, instead of using an officer's knee like Chauvin did. She also testified that during the entirety of Chauvin's tenure with the department, MPD officers "were taught about positional asphyxia", and hence instructed to move suspects onto their sides "as soon as possible" once they are "under control".
• Sgt. Ker Yang, an MPD crisis trainer who explained that listening is key to crisis intervention and that officers "shall de-escalate" when "it is safe and feasible".
• Lt. Johnny Mercil, the state's expert on MPD use-of-force policy and training, testified that officers are trained to use the least amount of force to get control of a suspect and to de-escalate their restraint once the suspect is under control. He also said kneeling on Floyd's neck violated police policy, ethics, and training.
• Officer Nicole Mackenzie, medical support coordinator, is the state's MPD expert on medical issues. Defense attorney Nelson questioned her about agonal breathing which she explained as ineffective irregular gasps for air. Nelson questioned as to whether it can be confused with effective breathing during "certain circumstances where there's a lot of noise, or a lot of commotion". She replied in the affirmative but under further questioning by the prosecution when asked if a hostile crowd could excuse an officer from giving emergency medical aid Mackenzie replied, yes but only "if an officer was being physically assaulted". She also testified that even if a person can speak it does not suggest that they are breathing adequately.
• Sergeant Jody Stiger of the Los Angeles Police Department, a national expert on use-of-force by police. Stiger testified that the video showed Chauvin not changing the force he applied to Floyd's neck area during the restraint. According to Stiger, "no force was reasonable in that position" where Floyd was prone and handcuffed. In that position, Floyd was "not attempting to resist, not attempting to assault officers, kick, punch", opined Stiger. The pressure exerted by Chauvin's body weight in that position may "cause positional asphyxia and could cause death", said Stiger. Stiger testified that Chauvin executed a pain compliance technique on Floyd's wrist and knuckles, even though Floyd was prone, not resisting, and apparently unable to comply; this technique was applied for an excessive period of time. Although Stiger said that a name-calling crowd could be viewed as "a potential threat", Stiger also testified that for the bystanders to Floyd's arrest: "I did not perceive them as being a threat", as most of their verbal remarks were due to "concern" for Floyd. While Stiger agreed with defense attorney Nelson's assertion that police were trained to place a knee between the shoulder blades of suspects, Stiger disagreed with Nelson's assertion that Chauvin had placed his knee "on" Floyd's shoulder blades, rather than "above" them.
• Special Agent James Reyerson of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension testified that he interviewed Minneapolis Chief Arradondoas during the investigation into Floyd's murder.
• McKenzie Anderson, a BCA forensic scientist who processed Floyd's SUV and the officers' squad car and tested eight stains positive for Floyd's DNA, including seven blood stains.
• Breahna Giles, a BCA chemical forensic scientist who testified that pills found inside Floyd's SUV contained fentanyl and methamphetamine.
• Susan Neith, a forensic chemist who testified that three pills found inside the SUV and squad car contained a fentanyl concentration of less than 1% and a methamphetamine concentration of 1.9 to 2.9%, whereas "the majority of time" Neith sees "90 to 100% methamphetamine".
• Martin J. Tobin, pulmonologist, critical care specialist, physiologist, and recognized expert in respiratory failure who said lack of oxygen to the brain and heart led to Floyd's death. Tobin testified that Floyd died of low levels of oxygen caused by asphyxiation that resulted in brain damage and cardiac arrest, and that he did not die of a fentanyl overdose.
• Daniel Isenschmid, a forensic toxicologist who testified that the ratio of fentanyl to norfentanyl in Floyd's blood was 1.96 ng/ml, below the average of 9.05 in postmortem cases and 3.2 in DUI cases, adding that overdose victims rarely have norfentanyl in their blood. He also testified that Floyd's level of methamphetamine was in the bottom 5.9% of a sample of DUI methamphetamine cases.
• Bill Smock, a legal forensic medicine specialist, surgeon, and former emergency room doctor who testified that Floyd died from a lack of oxygen and not a fentanyl overdose.
• Lindsey Thomas, a forensic pathologist. She testified that there was "no evidence" that indicated that Floyd "would have died that night except for the interactions with law enforcement". Thomas said that the many videos of Floyd's arrest did not show signs of a death from a fentanyl overdose, as those deaths typically feature a person becoming "very sleepy" and then "peacefully stops breathing"; the videos also did not show Floyd experiencing a sudden death, as from a heart attack.
• Andrew Baker, the chief Hennepin County medical examiner, who performed the official autopsy on Floyd's body. He testified that he stood by his autopsy finding that Floyd's death was a homicide caused by "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression". He said Floyd's heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and methamphetamine use were contributing causes but not direct causes because they "did not cause the subdual or the neck restraint". He said he did not believe the neck compression he saw in the videos could have restricted air or blood flow to Floyd's brain, but that it contributed to physiological stress, increased adrenaline, and elevated blood pressure.
• Jonathan Rich, a medical expert in cardiology, testified that despite seeing coronary artery blockage in Floyd's heart the heart is able to create new paths for blood to circulate and he saw nothing to suggest that a cardiac event played a role in his death. He also testified that he saw no evidence to suggest that a drug overdose caused Floyd's death.
• Philonise Floyd, younger brother of George Floyd, who recalled the close relationship between his brother and their mother.
• The final witness, Seth Stoughton, a law professor and former police officer, spoke as a use-of-force expert. Using the "reasonable officer" standard he testified that Chauvin's level of force was disproportionate to the circumstances. "No reasonable officer would have believed that this was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force."