What does the current trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin have in common with the trials of George Zimmerman in 2013 and of O. J. Simpson in the 1990s?  Each being broadcast live may be seen as “the trial of its decade” in terms of showing the American public how murder trials actually take place.

That makes for an extremely important learning experience.

Our friend Andrew Branca’s day by day reporting on the Zimmerman trial was, in my opinion, the gold standard for analytical commentary in that case.  He will be covering the Chauvin trial in his own blog, www.lawofselfdefense.com, and also at www.legalinsurrection.com.  I strongly recommend that you follow it.

The death of Chauvin’s arrestee, George Floyd, had profound repercussions in America. The general public seems to have been led by media reports to believe that Chauvin killed him.  Chauvin supporters contend the official autopsy report shows that Floyd had up to three times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system at time of death.  The defense will contend that it was this, not then-Officer Chauvin kneeling on him, which caused Mr. Floyd’s death. 

Here is an example. If you are one of my graduates, you’ll recall that under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), prior bad acts of the deceased if not known to you at the time of his death normally cannot be introduced on your behalf if you are accused of murder or manslaughter for killing him.  It has been established that in a prior case about a year before his death, Mr. Floyd had swallowed a quantity of drugs (presumably to hide the evidence prior to arrest) and in that case was saved by medical intervention.  Trace evidence in the Mercedes from which Mr. Floyd was extracted, and in the police car in which he was briefly placed, indicate that he did the same in this instance, in effect killing himself.  However, there is a strong likelihood that this evidence favoring the defendant may not be allowed in front of the jury. See https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/03/chauvin-pre-trial-day-1-will-floyds-prior-arrest-related-drug-ingestion-be-admitted-as-evidence/.

Follow Branca’s reporting. There will be a lot to learn, that the mainstream media has not effectively conveyed to the public.

44 COMMENTS

  1. Like all totalitarian regimes, our current Leftist tyrants are trying to create a series of “Show Trials”. See this link in reference to Show Trials:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_trial#Nazi_Germany

    We have already seen a number of such trials. For example, a number of shootings (both by police and by private individuals) of black suspects have been turned into Show Trials. The Trial of George Zimmerman being an obvious example.

    This trial, of Officer Chauvin, is another. This is shown by certain steps that have been taken to “stack the deck” in favor of conviction. For example, altering State Law so that a 3rd Degree Murder charge could be re-applied to Officer Chauvin (which smacks of a Bill of Attainder with respect to its timing). Or the City of Minneapolis reaching a big settlement ($27 million) with Floyd’s family and announcing the settlement just as the Chauvin trial gets underway. Trying to influence the jury pool, do you think?

    The Impeachments of President Trump and the charges against General Flynn were, equally, show trials staged by the American Left.

    You can expect the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse to be made into a Show Trial as well.

    So far, the American Left has a spotty record with respect to their Show Trial efforts. Most have resulted in failures to convict. However, we need to keep careful watch of the Show Trials that the Left is continually staging. When the Show Trials start working, and start producing regular convictions, then it will be a sign that the Judicial Branch has now been totally corrupted too, along with the Deep State Executive Branch and the corrupted Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government.

    Therefore, these Show Trials represent an important “Canary in the Coal Mine”. When the Show Trials start regularly working and start generating great amounts of propaganda for the Left, then the corruption is complete and the American Republic will be, officially, dead. Dead and about to be Buried.

  2. Are you saying that the fact that George Floyd had massive amounts of Fentanyl in his system won’t be known to the jury?? How can exculpatory evidence be excluded?

    I understand if the fact that George Floyd was in jail 9 times previously wasn’t known to Officer Chavin then that fact can’t be admitted into evidence but if the physical condition of Mr Floyd isn’t know to the jury that’s a major exclusion of exculpatory evidence.

    Will the autopsy reports not be introduced into evidence?

    • Whit, it’s going to be hard to keep out the autopsy report and toxicology screen. Expect them to bring in experts to argue that the potentially fatal dosage wasn’t lethal in this case. What they do have a good chance of keeping out, because it wasn’t known to the officer and therefore was not formative to his reasoning or his actions, was that Mr. Floyd had almost killed himself once before swallowing massive dosage of illegal drugs to hide the evidence.

  3. I live in a Mpls. suburb. I have been a firearms instructor for over 50 years, I am a retired EMT, and served five years as a police officer. I appreciate the referral to Andrew Branca’s sites, but I don’t have $100 to spend. I will share, at no cost, a YouTube commentary by George Parry, Chief of the Police Brutality/Misconduct Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office from 1978 to 1983. This man’s job was to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute police brutality or misconduct. This 24-minute video includes a great deal of body cam, bystander and security video and audio. Most significantly, Mr. Floyd complains of inability to breathe LONG BEFORE police put him on the ground or kneel on his neck. Fentanyl overdose causes fluid accumulation in the lungs.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wrqZrJh2NbY&noapp=1&has_verified=1

    • Craig – I don’t think you have to pay Andrew Branch for his coverage of the Chauvin trial. His blog entries on this subject are free, at least they seem to be. I think they are also fre on the Legal Insurrection site, although their new and “improved” format for LI is not very friendly – hope they fix it!

    • Although most of our content is, indeed, limited to Law of Self Defense Members, and membership costs only about a quarter a day, given the public importance of the Derek Chauvin trial we are making access to our day-to-day coverage available on an open-access basis, with no membership required. This Chauvin trial content is available in blog post form and video form and http://lawofselfdefense.com/blog, and on our open-access Law of Self Defense Podcast (on all major podcast platforms), again free and without requirement of membership.

      And many thanks to Mas for the very kind mention. All of us in the world of use-of-force law, and most especially me, to do so only because he has allowed us to stand upon his shoulders.

  4. Thanks for the additional links. I’ll be watching them and as with past lesser viewed trial facts, I’ll do my part in disseminating them.

  5. Hindsight is 20/20 and will show more after the trial. I would then like to see a model representation of how a kinder, gentler apprehension would definitely have been accomplished without injury to one or more of the arresting officers. Herculean NFL hero Aaron Donald can ironically portray a visibly impaired, super-strength, hysterical, resisting criminal. The role of politics in such a conspicuous trial reminds me of Breaker Morant being tried for homicide under “Rule 303,” after apparently following established policies, if not published orders. If George Floyd even POSSIBLY died of a self-administered overdose, his cause-of-death should IMHO not be ruled a homicide. Arrest tactics can be examined.

  6. Mas, Help me clarify my thinking on this. It seems to me that the exclusion of evidence, such as the history of drug ingestion to avoid arrest for possession by George Floyd, because that history was unknown to Officer Chauvin, might be appropriate if based on the question of the state of mind of Officer Chauvin. But, in this case the ingestion of drugs as a prior pattern of behavior speaks not to the state of mind of the defendant but rather to the likely cause of death. Therefore, it should be admissible under defense’s theory of death. Furthermore, had Officer Chauvin known of George Floyd’s prior history of massive drug ingestion to avoid arrest, Officer Chauvin might have been alert to this additional risk of death and taken actions to counter this risk (or might have been held responsible for failure to act on such knowledge).
    One thing that seems obvious is that a reasonable person might have doubted Floyd’s plea that he was too claustrophobic to enter the back seat of a patrol car when he was, moments earlier and of his own accord, in the seat of smaller vehicle. A reasonable person might have perceived that Floyd was “gaming” the police with a false “medical” complaint. Or, the particularly astute person might have considered that this was the onset of a drug-induced agitated delirium. Or both.
    In addition to a massive dose of fentanyl, likely lethal in itself, George Floyd’s autopsy showed illegal stimulants and longstanding atherosclerotic heart disease. It is quire plausible, or even likely, that these three factors (narcotic, stimulant and underlying heart disease) conspired to kill George Floyd.
    It would be interesting to know the actual statistics on the “lethality” of this type of “neck press hold”. It is worse than the unintended mortality associated with T-batons or Tasers or beanbag projectiles?
    One optic that may be difficult for the defense to overcome: the apparent indifference manifest when one officer noted that the subject was not moving and lacked a pulse. Video showing a effort at chest compressions, if such exists, rather than just “waiting for the bus”, would be helpful to the defense. There may be no duty to perform CPR and we are well aware of the myriad reasons and circumstances that argue against rushing to the aid of a downed perpetrator; but, the presence of multiple officers and the previous clearance of any weapons from the person eliminates most of those considerations. A jury may have a very hard time with the lack of effort at CPR by the officers once the pulseless condition was identified.
    That said, the Mainstream Press and the New Left certainly have done a terrible job of picking their “poster children” with the result that truth behind the headlines typically results in a trial result that is the opposite of what the headlines lead the public to expect.
    We can only hope that true justice is served.
    Best regards and keep up the great writing!

    • Doctor Jeff:

      Please don’t substitute the word “optic” for “image” like so many in the media have done. Optics is the study of light and it’s properties or an abbreviation for optical equipment such as scopes and binoculars. Seems many in the media have grown tired of using the word “image” and was looking for something new and racy sounding to describe it so decided to misuse the word “optics” instead, hoping that using it often enough will eventually give it a new meaning. Does saying “The binoculars of this person’s action looks bad” make any sense?

    • Matthew Bodmer:

      Just don’t want to see people misusing words by giving them a new definition to fit their agenda. Maybe someone may start calling cats “dogs” and doing it repeatedly until others start accepting that term for felines. People should use words as they were created to be used instead of giving them new meaning. We should not have to figure out what someone is saying when they misuse words, when they can simply use the proper ones in their speech.

      • I’ve been noticing for a long time that American culture never puts up a fight when the Left re-defines words. The most glaring example of this was when the Left chose to label Left-leaning states “blue” and Right-leaning states “red.” Most people know the color red has been associated with Communism, which is Leftism, for a long time. Weren’t the Russian Bolsheviks in 1917 called Red Russians, while those which defended the Czar were called White Russians? So that means red has been associated with Communism for at least 104 years.

        No one pushed back against this labeling. Why couldn’t FoxNews, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Grant, Mark Levin, et al have pushed back against the intentionally confusing label? It’s actually backwards labelling, like calling day “night,” and night “day.” But our side always dutifully submits, because we are nice guys.

      • Roger that. Sorry no pun intended. You are exactly right. That’s why the biggest Communist country in Asia which gave the world Covid-19 is called Red China. Not many folks know about the White Russians, who were unfortunately not widely supported in the 1920’s and therefore defeated by the Reds who brought misery and death to hundreds of millions for decades.

  7. “. . . might be appropriate if based on the question of the state of mind of Officer Chauvin.”

    This DOES seem to be THE issue; and, IF KNOWN to Chauvin, seems to work AGAINST him.

    Suppose Chauvin can evidence that he knew NOTHING about Floyd. Did NOT know he was a drug user. Not know he consumed drugs to avoid their discovery during a prior arrest. Not know he had taken any drugs shortly before the arrest. Under such circumstances, he would NOT be on notice of the need to take particular precautions that would have been appropriate to arresting a suspect whose behavior would be readily explained by having just ingested a fatal cocktail of drugs.

    Chauvin would be better off asserting that he had NO WAY of knowing these facts; nor even of suspecting them. If he knew, or suspected these facts, he wouldn’t have feared the possibility of escape. He would have considered calling for an injection of naloxone.

    Alternatively, let’s IMAGINE a purely counterfactual scenario. Suppose, unbeknownst to Floyd, he was in the company of a KGB agent. The KGB agent apprehends Chauvin’s imminent arrest of Floyd. So that Floyd can not be interrogated, the KGB agent – unbeknownst to Floyd or Chauvin – gives Floyd a fatal dose of poison.

    Chauvin should not be foreclosed from claiming “some other dude done it” merely because Chauvid did NOT KNOW Floyd was poisoned by the KGB agent.

    Why should Cauvin be – logically – foreclosed from claiming “THAT other dude done it” merely because he did NOT KNOW that FLOYD poisoned himself?

  8. I wasn’t there so I have opinion on what happened. However, for nearly 30 years, I was taught that (light) knee contact with the body of a non-resistant arrestee was permissible for balance during handcuffing and the following body search. When the arrestee becomes/is resistant, things can get a little hectic and the comfort of the arrestee is no longer a primary consideration.

    I would rather expect that the defense is/has already started their appellate brief on the change of venue denial.

  9. I am not a legal expert, but I want to try predicting the outcome of this trial anyway. From what I have seen and read, George Floyd probably died from a fentanyl overdose. My guess is that Officer Chauvin will defend himself by saying everything he did to George was a result of his police training. In other words, Chauvin was following the book when George was arrested, and did nothing wrong, even though putting his knee on the back of Floyd for nine minutes looks bad on video. Chauvin was following police procedure, following his training.

    I think the judge will be on trial just as much as Chauvin will. If the judge follow the facts, Chauvin should be acquitted. What if the judge is scared there will be riots if Chauvin is acquitted? Will he cave in to that pressure? Will someone bribe the judge to convict Chauvin? Will someone threaten the judge’s life, or the lives of his family members, if he refuses to convict?

    I know the jury has a lot to say in this trial as well. I can’t predict what a jury will say. Thinking back to the OJ trial and the Menendez brothers trial, I would say that American juries can be amazingly stupid.

    • Roger, placing a knee on a suspect’s neck is not taught to the police. They are instructed to put weight on an arrestee’s upper back when cuffing or searching them to prevent the person from trying to get up. Obviously the media got it wrong again when they described a choke hold was improperly used on the deceased. The technique most taught to police is the lateral carotid restraint where the subject is placed on the ground in a sitting position with the officer behind him/her using an arm around the neck to block off the flow of blood in the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck to cause unconsciousness. We were cautioned to be careful and crush any of the several small bones near these arteries, and never call this technique the “Sleeper Hold”.

      • Chauving’s use of his knee on Floyd’s neck under these circumstances was a restraint technique approved by and trained by the Minneapolis Police Department, of which Chauvin was a member for 19 years, until shortly after Floyd’s death, after which the use-of-force policy was changed. The MPD manual and use-of-force policy in effect at the time of the Floyd death covered this technique explicitly.

        That restraint technique may be bad policy, in which case the liability falls upon the MPD, but it was permissible, and trained, by MPD policy at the time of Floyd’s in-custody arrest.

      • Andrew Branca:

        Thanks for your clarification on the neck restraint formerly used by the Minneapolis PD. I had worked for two police departments and neither of them trained it’s officers to put any pressure on a suspect’s neck due to possible injuries. There was a distraction technique where a light strike to the side of the neck was taught and approved at one of the agencies I had previously worked for.

  10. I very clearly recall running accross an article that revealed that two of the four officers persent, Chauvin being one of thme, nad very recently taken special training in identifying and dealing with massive drug overdose situations. In order to prevent a suspect from harming himself and/or others, not exclusing the arresting officers, the knee alongside the neck technique employed in this incident was taught. Other evidence presented in this piece had Chauvin and the other officer who had trained with him on precisely this scenario actually discussing that both, based on their observationis of their suspect Floyd, realised he WAS in a massive meltdown from drug overdoe, propbably fentanyl. This was about the time they attempted to put their suspect into the patrol car and he resisted and complained of “I can’t breathe”. When they called the medics, earlier, they informed them of the suspect drug ingestion situation, to better prepare them for immediate response upon arrival at scene.

    If ALL of this evidence can make its way before the jury, together with the tix panel from the autopsy report, it seems far more likel that Chaivin will be acquitted. The fact that both of these two officers had recently had that specific training, and had followed the protocol they had recently learned then have the report reveal beyond any question that the suspected drug HAD been introduced into their subject’s system, two conclusions should prevail:: first that the cause of death was the drugs, not a knee next to the neck, and second, that the two lead officers in the incident had, well before their suspect went to ground, correctly identified their suspect’s condition, and that they were taking the very steps they had been recentl trained to administer in this type of case. The trace analises of his car and the patrol car should support the fact the guy was already dead on his feet when the officers first contacted him.

    Yep, a political show trial. Let’s hope the jury are not intimidated by what they are likely told will be a long and heavy round of mayhem breaking out accross the nation. TheZimmerman trial was thought to be a provocation to unimaginable violence, but what little did occur did not amount t much, and it certainly was not a nationwide revolt. This one might be…..it is FAR more high profile than the Angelic Choirboy vs the White Hispanic ‘murderer’.

  11. Hi Mas,

    Definitely a trial to watch and thank you for the links. I watched the body camera footage posted on YouTube, the full hour’s worth. When one of the officers (not Chauvin) remarks about the suspect (Floyd) being in a drugged panicked state, Chauvin remarked to effect “that is why we’re doing this”, i.e., restraining Floyd on the ground while awaiting paramedics to arrive and administer drugs to bring him under control. This was standard MSP procedure and officer training at the time. Couldn’t the fact that Chauvin reasonably believed Floyd was in drug panicked state per his department training open the door to the possible means by which Floyd came into that state, including possibly ingesting drugs that may have been on his person or in the car at the time of the first police contact with Floyd, and based on the evidence found in the two cars? It would seem that once the door is opened that the police officer suspected that the individual was under the influence of drugs, and particular Fentanyl for which is know to cause a panic, agitated state observed in Floyd, that it would also open the door to drug evidence in the two cars, and to Floyd’s past behavior in past, similar circumstances?

    Then again, I didn’t stay in Holiday Inn Express recent so my legal reason might not hold water.

    Watching the full body cam video gave me a different perspective from the news reporting provided this far.

  12. Maybe extensive rounds of videos of what happens to under-supported peace officers who take too many chances by leaning over backwards towards criminals ought to be played everywhere possible to help counter the recently prevailing Media Mob-projected mentality that peace officers have generally been bigoted homicidal Nazi Ku Klux Klan sadists. Not to leave out footage of grieving families at funerals of late law enforcement officers, or emergency room scenes with police officers being treated and operated on, and especially of those views of officers who have been murdered. No more tolerating of congenital cop-haters or their past or present bang-bang-journalist collaborators.

  13. Mr. Ayoob:

    The fix is in. He will be found guilty regardless of the evidence since the boy-wonder mayor of the City of Minneapolis, all of the Hennepin County officials, and the god-lord-emperor governor of MN have already declared him to be guilty.

    I’ve been following the jury selection thanks to Mr. Branca (at Legal Insurrection) and through Powerline, and have noted the very peculiar rulings of the judge in this case. From not allowing a blatantly needed change of venue, to not rejecting for cause obviously and self-stated biased jurors it is obvious that he is terrified of the potential violent aftermath of a verdict of “not guilty”.

    I lived for 60 years in Mpls., and with only a single exception, found that the members of the police force there were utterly indifferent to the non-uniformed citizens. With a massive us-versus-them mentality going hand-in-hand with the Blue Wall of Silence there has never been a time when officers were ever held accountable for their actions. I can cite example after example of personally witnessed experiences in this regard, but will not take up the room on your blog with it. Suffice to say that Officer Chauvin’s actions are not at all surprising to anyone who has watched Mpls. police in action. The apparent disregard for the health and well-being of someone in his custody is readily apparent, even though the neck-hold is not one that is life-threatening in and of itself (I’ve seen the PowerPoint slide from the MPD’s training on excited delirium).

    The fact that this is the second time that Floyd swallowed his stash of drugs (and subsequently OD’d and became unconscious) to try to avoid arrest will probably never be heard at trial given the obvious bias of the judge.

    We made our escape from center of the hive in the Soviet Socialist State of Minnesota a few years ago, and I’ve never been happier than to be living in a small town in WY where the local police and (county) deputy sheriffs are polite, friendly, and neighbors.

  14. I’m trying to imagine a scenario where Chauvin is found not guilty, but the announcement does not result in riots. If a messenger who is trusted by Antifa and BLM made the announcement, and explained that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, not Chauvin’s knee on his neck, there might be a chance of avoiding the rioting. Could the trusted messenger be Kanye West, Oprah, Colin Powell or Barack Obama? If the Minneapolis Police were allowed to do their job, any riots could be shut down.

    I think the scenario I dreamed up could only happen in the old America. For my scenario to come to pass the judge and jury would have to be unafraid to go where the facts lead them. It requires a governor and/or mayor willing to do what is right. I’m sure if business owners were to try to protect their businesses, like the Korean grocers did during the Rodney King riots, the mayor of Minneapolis would tell the police to arrest THEM, not the rioters.

    If human beings were enlightened, the other countries of the world would be imitating the good aspects of American life. Immigrants come here because their countries are hopeless. Look at the depravity of the American Left. They are trying to tear down the greatest country in the history of the world, because they think they can do better. China created the virus, we created the cure. WHITE PEOPLE ENDED SLAVERY. Both blacks and whites worked to end slavery in the West, but the man who probably did the most was William Wilberforce of Great Britain.

    America is dying the death of a thousand cuts. It’s sad to see what is coming. Get out of the cities.

  15. Roger:

    Heading to the hills won’t help as Aunt Kamala will just send her obedient stormtroopers assisted by BLM and Anitfa mobs into the most remote woods to hunt you down. America is being transformed by liberals into a living hell for conservatives. Probably the only person who can evade the dark forces is Rambo, as Colonel Trautman stated “What you call Hell, he calls Home.”

  16. And now, combining the $27,000,000 payout to the family will definitely influence the jury pool. Here in Maryland, Freddie Gray’s family got a mega payout too and through it all, the officers were acquitted on all charges and Baltimore still burned to the ground, sound familiar?

    • I wish a black sheep member of my family will croak while in police custody, so I can bring a lawsuit against the department and make a few million bucks off him/her. 🙂

      • Are you African-American, Latino or (maybe) Native-American? By Native-American, I mean more than 1 part in 1,024 like a certain Senator that I could name.

        You’ve got to have the right skin color to “Cash-In” on this kind of money. The darker your skin color, the better chance of your idea working. You see, we live in an age that has flipped the idea that Martin Luther King championed. These days, people are judged by the “Color of their Skin” rather than by the “Content of their Character”.

        I have a worthless cousin who has a “rap sheet” as long as your arm. He also used to do a lot of drugs and alcohol although I hear that he has recently cleaned up his act. He has spent time in prison for arson.

        However, because he is white, he would not be worth 1 cent if he died in custody. There is no way my family could “Cash In” on him. I guess he truly is “worthless”! 🙂

      • TN_MAN:

        Ha, Ha, Ha! No, I’m not any of the humanoid types you mentioned, although I have in the past jokingly tried to pass myself of a member of the Sioux Tribe, like Elizabeth Warren and Ward Churchill did with other tribes. Maybe you can convince your black sheep cousin to proclaim he feels black and considers himself as such, like Bill Clinton, so if anything does happen to him while in police custody, you can still make a few bucks.

      • Tom606 – “Maybe you can convince your black sheep cousin to proclaim he feels black…”

        While this might work in CA or NY, I am doubtful of it working here in the South.

        Here is an idea. My worthless cousin was married to a Latino woman for a while. In fact, she was the only one of his girlfriends that he did bother to marry. They had a son together.

        Of course, she eventually got tired of his crap and divorced him.

        So, if he was to croak in custody, maybe the family could milk the Latino angle? We could say he was Latino by marriage. Maybe bring the suit in the name of his son?

        What do you think? Any chance of milking the Latino angle for cash? 🙂

      • Yes, Tom606. Remember the book “Black Like Me?” Skin color can be manipulated. Look at the unfortunately late Michael Jackson, bless his good soul. For 27 million dollars, I would soak for a week in walnut shell juice myself, if necessary. The trick is to get a pitiful-appearing second cousin twice removed living in a Democrat State to put you in his will, as well as to get him gruesomely erased on video by gullible goons wearing official government uniforms.

      • TN_MAN:

        It would work better if your cousin was transgender, a transvestite, or at least a vegan to give him more favored status. If enough family members and friends could attest that he voted for the Harris/Biden ticket in 2020 and identified with one of the favored ethnic groups now in vogue, then a sympathetic judge and jury may award the family some dough when the black sheep dude “bites the dust” in police custody.

        Strategic Steve:

        Since Michael Jackson no longer looked black due to his daily soaking in bleach to lighten his skin, plus extensive plastic surgery to erase his ebony facial features, he has been excommunicated from the African race. Dang, the Gloved One was whiter than Follywood actress Nicole Kidman who’s more pale than Casper the Friendly Ghost.

      • Tom606 – “It would work better if your cousin was transgender, a transvestite, or at least a vegan to give him more favored status.”

        With an ex-wife and a bunch of girlfriends in his background, it would be tough to sell him as transgender or gay. It would just be like one of his bitter, ex-girlfriends to show up in court and “spill the beans”. 🙁

        Here is another idea. Due to his long, long, long history of drug and alcohol abuse, he has sold Uncle Sam on the idea that he has mental health problems. He gets a disability check from Uncle Sam every month because of these issues.

        So, if he were to croak in custody, we could sell the idea to the court that the Police were grossly negligent in their failure to provide mental health services to a suspect with a documented history of mental health problems thereby leading to his death. As the George Floyd case clearly shows, criminals with a long history of drug abuse combined with mental health issues fall into one of the Left’s favored status classes. I admit that it would be better if he were African-American too (like Floyd) so that every base was covered. Nevertheless, two out of three isn’t bad.

        In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that my cousin’s rich history of crime and drug abuse is a fertile field for monetary exploitation given the right circumstances. I may have been too hasty in my initial assessment that he is “worthless”! 🙂

      • TN_MAN:

        Since your black sheep cousin has a history of drug abuse, the lawsuit could claim that he was not provided with clean needles to shoot up, which resulted in his demise while in custody. Also it wouldn’t hurt to instruct your cousin to shout loudly “I can’t breathe!” if the cops ever arrest him. The older quotes “Hands up, don’t shoot!” or “Don’t taz me, bro!” may come in handy too.

  17. Hey, Mas,
    I may be a little foggy about the timeline of events. I thought that Officer Chauvin was told by another officer that Mr. Floyed had no pulse yet he took no action for several minutes to render first aid. Because Mr. Floyed was in custody, he became Officer Chauvin’s responsibility. Is this correct?

  18. The city appears to have tainted the jury pool with their settlement with Floyd’s family. From a risk management perspective, though, this was prudent. The issue of Chauvin being trained in the technique and its presence in the use of force policy is sure to come out in the trial. Whatever happens in the criminal trial, the city was hosed in the now moot civil trial. Better to stop the bleeding now.

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