Thread by @LouRaguse

The trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd begins with opening statements this morning in Minneapolis. KARE 11 will broadcast the entire trial live on TV and the web -- here are ways for you to watch.

kare11.com/article/news/l…

I expect opening statements to take up much of the morning -- and I also expect the prosecution to begin calling witnesses today. There is also lots of activity around the courthouse and we have several reporters covering all issues.

All 15 jurors showed up, so the last one seated -- a white man in his 20s is dismissed -- the other 14 will make up the 12 jurors and 2 alternates.

If you prefer to watch on Youtube -- here is our link today:

You can also watch on kare11.com and with the KARE 11 app for phone, Roku, Amazon Fire, etc.

Prosecution is making a motion -- they don't want the defense to say anything during opening statements claiming George Floyd wanted to resist arrest.

Looks like the camera angles are slightly different than they were during jury selection.

Cahill: Can't say he "was" resisting.. can say he appeared to be resisting, because witnesses can say what they observed.

Schedule in general: 9-930 argue legal issues that come up.

9:30 is when the jury will come in.

Most days will end at 4:30 but will go to 5 sometimes.

But all jurors are here -- so Judge will bring them at 9:20 today.

The Judge is now swearing in and instructing the jury.

Opening statements will then begin. Judge Cahill mentioned he wants to stay "on schedule" as much as possible when it comes to breaks.

Breaks are scheduled for:
10:40a (20 min)
12:30p (1h)
3:00: (20 min)

Central time zone.

We will fill all of those breaks with analysis. Please send any questions here over twitter or email [e-mail] and we will answer them live.

There is one print reporter and one broadcast reporter in the courtroom. They are serving as pool reporters and will email their observations to me during the breaks.

I will relay that information to you at that time.

Kind of remarkable that the jurors are still allowed to use social media (but cannot post about the case and should avoid news about this case.)

Attorney Jerry Blackwell now beginning opening statements...

Blackwell: Mr. Derek Chauvin betrayed this badge... with excessive and unreasonable force on George Floyd.

9:29 -- that is the amount of time Chauvin's knee was on Floyd's neck.

Blackwell presenting what I believe is a very effective timeline of the knee on the neck:

Blackwell: George Floyd was completely silent for 53 seconds before Officer Lane said "i think he's passing out."

Then Floyd was "unconscious, breathless or pulseless for 4min44 seconds after that.

Chauvin did not remove knee even when paramedic looked for pulse.

Blackwell: MPD officers are bound by statement -- "In your custody is in your care"

If you have a subject in your custody, it is your duty to care for that person.

Important point for prosecution case -- made by Blackwell -- Chauvin "stopped" others from helping Floyd. Making conscious choices along the way.

Blackwell says MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo will make it clear to jurors when he testified that Chauvin did not act the way MPD officers are trained and expected to act.

Blackwell is working in some of the key phrases that are parts of the elements needed to prove guilt. "Eminently dangerous," etc.

Another key point for the prosecution -- this was not a "split second decision" which so many officer trials examine.

"In 9 minutes 29 seconds there are 479 seconds. Not a split second among them."

Blackwell is now showing the jury the video shot by a teen and posted to Facebook -- the one millions of people have seen.

Blackwell is going over an important part of his opening statement -- prepping the jury for what they are about to hear from the defense.

He told them the difference between what someone looks like when dying from a drug overdose -- and what Floyd looked like.

There will be no break in between opening statements. now Eric Nelson is giving his opening.

"The evidence is far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds" Nelson says.

He is painting a picture of the expansive nature of the investigation with BCA (state investigators) and the FBI.

200 civilian witnesses interviewed.

A dozen search warrants executed.

Nelson is telling the jurors -- Floyd fell asleep in the car after taking two Percocet pills.

He is painting a picture of what MPD body cams show.

"The evidence will show that when confronted by police, Mr. FLoyd put drugs in his mouth in an effort to conceal them from police."

Nelson is now revealing to the jury that drugs found in cars were "Speedballs" mixture of opioid and stimulant - disguised as Percocet.

Nelson appears to be is signaling that he will try to point jurors to the body camera videos rather than the FB video when examining the use of force.

Nelson is telling jurors how the medical evidence did not include any "Tell-tale signs" of asphyxiation. No bruising, etc found in the autopsy.

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy, will be a very critical witness.

"the state was not satisfied with Dr. Baker's work"

Nelson says the state had to contract several other medical experts.

Jena Scurry is the first witness to testify -- she is the 911 dispatcher.

For the prosecution -- Matthew Frank is doing the questioning. He is an Assistant Attorney General and handles the biggest homicide cases in which the AG's office prosecutes. Often complicated case in smaller counties where the elected county attorney needs help.

Frank is leading the prosecution for the state under @AGEllison. Several of the other attorneys are in private practice but are working pro bono to help.

Scurry is employed by MPD.

Part of the prosecution's strategy is showing the jurors as many MPD employees who will testify that what they saw was not "normal."

The prosecution is now asking Scurry about the street video she could see live as the incident was happening and while she was dispatching other calls.

This is video unseen by the public until now.

This camera offers an overhead view of the officers holding down George Floyd.

Dispatcher Jena Scurry was watching this part while multitasking and at some point grew concerned.

Scurry thought at first the screen had frozen -- because it seemed to be such a long time with the police in that position.

She acknowledges she rarely gets a view of this like Officers on the scene.

But says "something was not right."

Scurry's "gut instinct" led her to call a Sgt.. the supervisor of the officers.

She says Sgts are notified for use of force. She has called them in the past for issues but this was only time she called to inform on officer use of force.

They just played the audio of Scurry calling the Sgt and telling them "all of them sat on this man"

and "that looked different"

Testifies that it was outside of her scope of duties to voice her concern.... her job is mainly all listening.

Lunch break is over and Jena Scurry is still on the stand -- to be cross-examined by Eric Nelson, Derek Chauvin's defense attorney.

Nelson is trying to show that Scurry is not not an expert on police conduct -- and emphasizing that she very rarely sees policework on those TVs

"Maybe three or four calls I have seen on our TVs."

Nelson is questioning Scurry about confusion that existed about where the ambulance responded -- the one Chauvin and the officers were waiting for.

Also -- got her to admit the call from officers to review use of force varies in time it takes.

Nelson is replaying the video -- and noting several times how the prosecution's playback of it appeared jittery, slow motion-like.

He asked Scurry to note where she sees the squad car rocking during the struggle between the officers and Floyd.

Nelson is finished with Cross -- now Matthew Frank is asking redirect questions, which is where prosecutors usually attempt to undo any potential damage a defense attorney has done to their witness.

The next witness is taking the stand. Her name is Alisha Oyler

Steve Schleicher is questioning this witness for the prosecution. The jury got to know him during jury selection as he did all the questioning for the state.

Oyler worked at the Speedway gas station directly across the street from Cup Foods and the spot George Floyd died.

The witness is very nervous. We just learned that she recorded the incident from her vantage point.

It sounds like they will show the video clips.

That is the point of using her as a witness. To provide the foundation for which prosecutors can show the jury her video clips.

Just so everyone understands, this is not the person who shot the "facebook video" -- the one you've all seen.

They have played a couple of this witness's videos, superimposed over the overhead police cam.

First question during this break for guest @LeeHuttonIII -- was it worth it for the prosecution to call this witness in order to show these videos to the jury?

The videos do offer a different perspective of the group of people observing the incident.

Here you can see the witness filming from the city cam next to what she is shooting at that moment.

Now Eric Nelson is cross-examining Alisha Oyler -- she says she was given a transcript of her BCA interview (from 2020) but she did not read it.

She says it would not help her recollection to take a look at the transcript now.

Donald Williams is now testifying. He is the one heard throughout the video telling the officers to check George Floyd's pulse. There is no doubt he will be a better witness for the prosecution than the last woman.

Williams is a mixed martial artist.

He works security jobs. So he's worked with off-duty MPD officers quite a bit.

Prosecutors want to use his wrestling and MMA experience to tell jurors he knew the danger George Floyd was in during the knee hold.

Remember that the beginning of each witness's testimony involves "laying foundation."

They can't just jump to what Williams saw on May 25 and let him talk about things like a "blood choke" until after he explains why he has all this knowledge involving chokeholds.

Hat tip to @RenaKARE11 for this observation. Prosecution probably trying to show Williams has an impeccable memory and attention to detail, as shown in his description of fishing earlier in the day on May 25.

Williams just testified that at this moment -- that Chauvin looked up at him after Williams said "that's a blood choke."

Williams is tying together his earlier story of fish suffocating in a bag -- to what he observed from Floyd, slowly fading away, in Williams' opinion, as he suffocated.

Talking about former Officer Tou Thao saying "this is why you don't do drugs" -- Williams received that as blaming a black man for his own death. "It pissed me off more"

There is no denying, Donald Williams is every bit as effective for the prosecution as they hoped he would be. Said he could hear George Floyd gasping for air.

He is giving the jurors the emotion he from the 9 min video they watched.

Quick note on what Judge Cahill told the jury to disregard -- Williams opined that Chauvin used a "shimmy" move to go into the "kill choke."

This was something the attorneys argued about during pretrial motions.

Williams giving some context to when he settled down a younger bystander.

You can hear that on the videos -- and it is important to the state's assertion that the crowd was concerned but was not unruly.

They are showing part of the FB video again -- with Williams opining that Chauvin used a "Shimmy" move to apply more pressure to Floyd's neck.