Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 20, 2025

Day 1 Of The Derek Chauvin Murder Trial Began With Video Of George Floyd’s Death

Day 1 Of The Derek Chauvin Murder Trial Began With Video Of George Floyd’s Death

On the first day of the murder trial for the former Minneapolis officer, prosecutors and defense attorneys tried to make clear what the case was - and was not - about.

In the nine minutes and 29 seconds that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck and back, the unarmed Black man cried out “I can’t breathe” 27 times.

This crucial period of time, captured on a bystander’s video that sparked a national reckoning about racial justice and police brutality, was the focus of the prosecution’s opening statements in Chauvin’s murder trial, which began on Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In his opening statement, Chauvin defense attorney Eric Nelson countered, “This case is clearly more than nine minutes and 29 seconds.”

Outside the courtroom, Chauvin’s case is being viewed as a watershed moment for police prosecutions in a country where cops are rarely convicted of killing civilians.

“This is a landmark moment in American history,” said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Floyd’s family, at a press conference on Monday. “The whole world is watching.”

The high-profile trial, which is being livestreamed, is expected to last for at least four weeks. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Fourteen jurors — eight white people and six people of color — were chosen during a selection process fraught with concerns about how the excessive publicity in the case would prejudice them.

Inside the courtroom at the heavily fortified Hennepin County Government Center, both the prosecution and the defense tried to make clear what the case was — and was not — about.

“It’s about the evidence in this case,” said Nelson, the defense attorney. “There is no political or social cause in this courtroom.”

Nelson said this case was about the “totality” of what happened on May 25, 2020, and what the “actual cause” of Floyd’s death was, focusing on his underlying medical conditions and the “ingestion” of the drugs that were found in Floyd’s system after his death.

Jerry Blackwell, a lawyer for the state and the founder of the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers, said the case was about “what happened in those nine minutes and 29 seconds when Mr. Derek Chauvin was applying excessive force to the body of George Floyd.”

Prosecutors have revised the amount of time that Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck, from the previous time of eight minutes and 46 seconds, which became an enduring symbol for police brutality protests last summer.

Blackwell emphasized that the case wasn’t about “all police officers and all policing” but only about how Chauvin’s actions contributed to Floyd’s death.

In his opening statement, Blackwell laid out the prosecution’s plans to prove that Chauvin’s restraint on Floyd’s neck was an “imminently dangerous activity” and that he did it “without regard” for the impact it would have on Floyd’s life.

Blackwell said Chauvin “betrayed” his police badge when he put his knee on Floyd’s neck and back, “grinding and crushing him, until...the very life was squeezed out of him.”

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell presents opening statements at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, March 29, 2021.


He said the state will call several use of force experts and law enforcement officials, including the Minneapolis chief of police, Medaria Arradondo, to testify that Chauvin’s conduct was “not consistent” with police training and policy and that his actions constituted an excessive and unreasonable use of force that contributed to Floyd’s death.

For much of his opening statement, Blackwell focused on the emotional details of the viral bystander video of Floyd’s arrest. He described how Floyd, 46, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe, cried out for his mother, and asked people to tell his kids he loved them while he lay handcuffed and face down on the street.

“I need to tell you the video is graphic and can be difficult to watch,” Blackwell said before playing a part of it in the courtroom. “It’s simply the nature of what we’re dealing with in this trial.”

The jurors, nearly all of whom had already seen clips of the video last year, once again saw distressing images of Floyd’s arrest from the time Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck and back to when Floyd’s still and silent body was carried away on a gurney amid screams of concern and anger from bystanders.

Even after he was told that Floyd had no pulse, Blackwell said Chauvin “did not let up and did not get up.”

Several of those onlookers, including a young girl in a T-shirt that read “love,” will be called to testify about how they were compelled to document what was unfolding before them and how some of them tried to intervene to stop it from happening, Blackwell said.

An image from a police body camera shows onlookers watching Chauvin press his knee on Floyd’s neck on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis.


In contrast, defense attorney Nelson characterized the bystanders as a distraction to the officers while they struggled to restrain Floyd.

He described the crowd as growing bigger and angrier, saying they were “screaming” at the four cops and calling them names, “causing the officers to divert their attention from the care of Mr. Floyd to the threat that was growing in front of them.”

Nelson pointed out to the jury that Chauvin was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 140 pounds, while Floyd was 6 foot 3 and weighed 223 pounds.

“It was not an easy struggle,” Nelson said.

He said that the evidence would show that Floyd ingested two pills which were a mix of methamphetamine and fentanyl when he was approached by police, and that the pills, along with Floyd’s underlying heart conditions, a history of hypertension, and the adrenaline flowing through his body, caused his death.

To counter the defense’s focus on Floyd’s heart condition and drug addiction, Blackwell said that Floyd “lived for years, day in and day out, with all of these conditions” until May 25, 2020, when, after nine minutes and 29 seconds, “he didn’t come out alive.”

The prosecution called its first witness on Monday, a 911 dispatcher who testified that she saw footage of Floyd’s arrest on a police security camera and was so concerned that “something was wrong” that she went beyond the scope of her duties to call a sergeant to voice her concerns about the possible use of force.

Prosecutors called another witness, an onlooker, whose cellphone videos shown to the jury offered new angles of Floyd’s arrest.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
×