Derek Chauvin trial: why it is a potential disaster

[Raze]

Derek Chauvin's trial is march. It is going to receive immense media coverage. They are adding barbed wire fencing to the court house among other defenses in preparation.

It is a potential disaster because Derek Chauvin might get off. Most people seem to think the evidence is overwhelming, however that doesn't mean it is set that he will be found guilty. They bumped up the charge to 2nd degree murder, which is much harder to prove. Here is a video of a police prosecutor who is basically arguing Derek Chauvin is innocent, my point is not to get you to agree to him, but to demonstrate how the case might be presented to the jurors, and thus how possible it is they can be convinced.

From what I understand of police brutality cases, it's extremely hard to convict because of the way the law is written. According to Dr. Michael Wood Jr, a police whistler blower and activist, the law is written so that the action of the police is justified if they can reasonable explain why they feel they were threatened.

Now here is why Derek Chauvin getting off could be a disaster:

1. The riots would be worse. Even though the George Floyd riots happened after he died, normally police riots actually happen after a court case where the police officer is found innocent. For example, the infamous Rodney King riots didn't actually happen when the video of Rodney King being beaten got released, but rather after the police involved were acquitted. As bad as the George Floyd riots were, they were probably settled down when Derek Chauvin and the other police officers involved got arrested. If they get acquitted for this reason the riots could be much worse. And that means more white flight, which exacerbates the conditions of many poor neighborhoods. I suspect that there are many people who wanted to riot but were scared, however if a chance to riot happens again they won't be anymore. This is because the response to the riots was very strange. It was very popular in social media circles to say the riots were not bad, or were a necessary evil. There was even a large campaign by celebrities to donate to bail funds of people arrested, Kamala Harris even donated to it. It's possible that once a riot gets going, far more people will jump in now because they will have an added feeling that they are actually not doing a bad thing, or that it's not as bad/dangerous as their initial feelings which lead to them not rioting originally.

2. Police tensions remain extremely high. The USA has had a noticeable increase in violent crime lately, and especially in some of the areas that have the biggest risk of riots. Police were already having a hard time recruiting, now the problem has gotten much worse. If a large scale riot happens again, so soon after the last one, I fear the violence the police return with could possibly be even worse, and thus feed into the riots more. Often times the worst police brutality comes from police panicking and being nervous rather than being malicious.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Raze

[Preety_India]

He definitely wasn't panicking when he proudly dug his knee into the victim's neck 

Bloody Murder. 

And 

Bloody Injustice. 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Preety_India

[kray]

His defense team is saying that Mr. Floyd actually overdosed on fentanyl, and therefore died from that...not the chokehold. I really hope that this defense doesn't stand, but if it does, and Derek Chauvin is acquitted of any first degree murder charges, I bet that we will see Rodney king style riots throughout the whole country. Even if BLM and other civil rights groups push for peaceful protest, you will always have that minority of people who want to instigate chaos and anarchy on the streets. It's just the way people work 

[Rilles]

3 hours ago, kray said:

His defense team is saying that Mr. Floyd actually overdosed on fentanyl, and therefore died from that...not the chokehold. I really hope that this defense doesn't stand, but if it does, and Derek Chauvin is acquitted of any first degree murder charges, I bet that we will see Rodney king style riots throughout the whole country. Even if BLM and other civil rights groups push for peaceful protest, you will always have that minority of people who want to instigate chaos and anarchy on the streets. It's just the way people work 

Choking someone while theyre overdosing on heroin is still murder, but thats my opinion, I dont know how the law works over there.

[Leo Gura]

3 hours ago, Rilles said:

Choking someone while theyre overdosing on heroin is still murder, but thats my opinion, I dont know how the law works over there.

Except there is the issue of resisting arrest for 30 minutes.

It will be a hairy case.

[Rilles]

55 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Except there is the issue of resisting arrest for 30 minutes.

It will be a hairy case.

Yep, and the resisting arrest probably also comes from a systemic problem which is fear of police and the enormous of amount of killings of black men, way more then any other modern country. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Rilles

[Leo Gura]

5 minutes ago, Rilles said:

and the resisting arrest probably also comes from a systemic problem which is fear of police and the enormous of amount of killings of black men,

That's not gonna fly in court.

Could also be the drugs.

[Rilles]

2 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

That's not gonna fly in court.

Could also be the drugs.

And thats why people get angry, and so the cycle continues. Until the system is changed from its core. 

[Preety_India]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Except there is the issue of resisting arrest for 30 minutes.

It will be a hairy case.

I don't know the laws in your country. But resisting arrest should not justify murder in my opinion. Such a defense is cheap. 

 

[Yali]

1 hour ago, Preety_India said:

justify murder

I'm not sure Chauvin intended to murder Floyd. You need proof for that.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Yali

[Rilles]

5 minutes ago, Yali said:

I'm not sure Chauvin intended to murder Floyd. You need proof for that.

Intent is hard to prove in a case like this, if Chauvin had walked up to Floyds front door and shot him it would have been easy, but since he was doing his job in a tough situation youre right, it is difficult, maybe he does hate black people but maybe he doesnt even know that himself, self-deception can go deep, motives can be unconcious.  

Edited March 1, 2021 by Rilles

[Yali]

30 minutes ago, Rilles said:

maybe he does hate black people

@Rilles

He probably does.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Yali

[Rilles]

10 minutes ago, Yali said:

@Rilles

He probably does.

It would be really strange for him to become Americas most hated police officer if he didnt atleast have some hate or unconscious shadow against black people.  That doesnt just happen out of the blue.

[integral]

@Preety_India Becareful with all this judgement and hate. It narrows vision. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by integral

[Preety_India]

52 minutes ago, integral said:

@Preety_India Becareful with all this judgement and hate. It narrows vision. 

Where's the hate? 

If someone does the crime, they should do the time. What's hateful about it? 

 

[Preety_India]

1 hour ago, Yali said:

I'm not sure Chauvin intended to murder Floyd. You need proof for that.

Why does Intent matter? He killed him on the spot and there was no self defense. Clear as day.

[integral]

hahahah just to good

Edited March 1, 2021 by integral

[Yali]

6 minutes ago, Preety_India said:

He killed him on the spot

why did he kill him @Preety_India

[kray]

22 minutes ago, Yali said:

why did he kill him 

 To play devil's advocate, I think in Chauvin's mind, he knew he was dealing with a heavy weight, tall black male. Maybe his experience with arresting black males was almost always met with aggression, so he was under the impression that in order to subdue Mr. Floyd, who happened to have a heavy build, he needed to use full force. I think from a psychological perspective, humans have a tendency to fight/flight. And if the only option we have is to fight, in Chauvin's case...that too against a big/heavy build person, we are going to put our full force. That, one could say, Chauvin was trying to do. 

It could also be that Chauvin has certain racist tendencies, and took it out on Mr. Floyd. We will see during the trial.

[kray]

9 hours ago, Rilles said:

Choking someone while theyre overdosing on heroin is still murder, but thats my opinion, I dont know how the law works over there.

Yea but when someone is on drugs, especially hard drugs like crack cocaine or heroin, they tend to act in aggressive ways.....so they have to be dealt with aggressively.