Thread by @UR_Ninja

Chauvin Trial Day 13 pt 1 - Opening Arguments pscp.tv/w/czCFjzFheVFW…

Judge Cahill swears in the jury for MN vs Derek Chauvin.

We are #LIVE for the #DerekChauvinTrial

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Jerry Blackwell is doing opening arguments for State as the #DerekChauvinTrial is in it's first morning after jury selection.

Blackwell is showing slides and speaking about #GeorgeFloyd dying after Derek Chauvin forced his knee onto Floyd's neck.

*its

Opening arguments in the State of MN vs. Derek Chauvin is ongoing with Jerry Blackwell explaining the state's reasoning for bringing murder charges against Chauvin. pscp.tv/w/1MnxnleenYVGO

Jerry Blackwell finished opening arguments for the State.

Before the summation of the arguments, he showed this slide which had some facts about #GeorgeFloyd.

Watch #LIVE: pscp.tv/w/1MnxnleenYVGO

#DerekChauvin's lawyer Eric Nelson is beginning his opening statement by talking about "reasonable doubt" and "common sense."

Nelson brings up the thousands of pieces of evidence and all of the people interviewed for the trial, saying how "this case is more than about 9 minutes and 29 seconds."

Nelson is listing a bunch of terminology used by police that the jury will hear during the trial, including "excited delirium," which is a highly controversial theory. Nelson then stated that everything Chauvin did was following his training.

The state has called their first witness - Jena Lee Scurry, a medical dispatcher who works for the City of Minneapolis

pscp.tv/w/czCfizFheVFW…

The prosecution is introducing Ms. Scurry as a witness by way of asking her about her job duties relaying emergency information throughout the day

Scurry is the first witness to be called in the #DerekChauvinTrial. Right now prosecution is still just having her describe her general workplace setup and work routine

Scurry describes how Minneapolis Police divide the city into five precinct sectors and respective officers and units are assigned to calls within a sector.

“The third precinct has four sectors to it...”

Third precinct is “South Minneapolis east of 35W”

On a typical shift “you have one [officer] per sector....and a precinct wide squad that would be assigned to the whole precinct”

Scurry is describing how her and her fellow dispatchers have access to city surveillance cameras, and have various methods such as an email system to directly contact officers in the field

Scurry was working a “middle shift” starting at 2:30 PM -12:30 AM on May 25, 2020 on “channel 1, covering precinct 2 and precinct 3”.

Ms. Scurry says that as part of her regular dispatch work she is familiar with the area by Cup Foods at 38th and Chicago

The prosecution shows Scurry a printout of a 911 call she fielded from the area where George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020

That’s exhibit 151 (the 911 call printout sheet)

The state is having Scurry read out loud a portion of this 911 call report from when officers were initially called to Cup Foods on May 25 over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill

Scurry says she dispatched a squad car to respond to the call from Cup Foods - it fell under “320 sector” within the 3rd Precinct. Says she “initially dispatched this to 330” “because 320 was not available”

Exhibit 10, a copy of that call dispatching MPD to Cup Foods, admitted into evidence and being played now

pscp.tv/w/czCfizFheVFW…

Some of the officers who were sent to the scene included officers from the Minneapolis Park Police, who can respond to calls in the city beyond just in parks.

At a certain point in the progression of events shown in the 911 dispatch report it shows both that officers had a man (George Floyd) restrained on the ground and also that Emergency Medical Services had been requested at the scene

The prosecution asks Scurry if while working as a dispatcher she was able to view any surveillance camera video of the incident in which George Floyd died at 38th and Chicago. “We were able to see what was going on...”

“At first I just saw the squad car, I didn’t see the officers....I did not watch the whole video or as it was happening I did not watch the whole time...I still had [other] calls to take care of”

State is about to introduce exhibit 11 (likely the first video of the scene Scurry was just asked about) - defense requested sidebar which just concluded before Judge Cahill received the exhibit

Video being played now shows two officers taking George Floyd in cuffs out of Cup Foods towards an MPD squad car

pscp.tv/w/czCrSzFheVFW…

The next thing Scurry remembers seeing is “they were getting into the back of the squad car”

The state is now playing more of the surveillance video, which shows officers interacting with George Floyd right outside the MPD squad car

pscp.tv/w/czCrSzFheVFW…

The video is still rolling in court. It now is showing officers with both back seats of the squad car open - presumably with Mr. Floyd inside. Scurry, the 912 dispatcher witness, says the best thing she remembers after this is seeing that officers had Floyd on the ground.

Other footage shows that MPD officers brutally beat George Floyd inside that squad car before eventually pulling him out of the car and murdering him:

unicornriot.ninja/2020/new-foota…

Scurry says she thought “the screens had frozen” bc the scene shown on the video from by Cup Foods “hadn’t changed.” She says she started to think “something might be wrong”

“I became concerned that something might be wrong...whether it might be that they needed more assistance or that something might not be right...I don’t know how to explain it...it was a gut instinct...I took that instinct and I called a Sergeant”

The state offers exhibit 12, a recording of the call Scurry made to the MPD sergeant - its playing in court now

pscp.tv/w/czCrSzFheVFW…

“All of them sat on this man...this looks a little different” -dispatcher Scurry on call recording to MPD sergeant

Scurry used the term “snitch” to refer to herself on the call when expressing concern about how the officers were handling George Floyd. Asked to explain use of the term “snitch” Scurry says she used the word to refer to reporting police “use of force”

“No further questions” for dispatcher Scurry from prosecutors with the Minnesota Attorney General.

Judge Cahill calls a lunch break til 1:30 PM central time.

After lunch, Eric Nelson, Derek Chauvin’s defense lawyer, will cross examine Scurry, the first witness.

The family of #GeorgeFloyd & #DerekChauvin each get one seat in the courtroom each day during the trial.

Today, George's brother, Philonise Floyd is sitting in the Floyd family seat. No one is in Chauvin family seat, as has been the norm.

Coverage -> unicornriot.ninja/derek-chauvin-… <-

Court in #DerekChauvinTrial is back after lunch - Chauvin's defense lawyer Eric Nelson is about to cross-examine Jena Lee Scurry, the 911 dispatcher who sent officers to Cup Foods where the deadly interaction between George Floyd & MPD officers occurred

pscp.tv/UR_Ninja/1Mnxn…

So far, Nelson is just having Scurry go over the basic details she described about what its like to work as a 911 dispatcher and what sort of view (or not) she has into incidents she dispatches officers to.

Nelson has moved onto examining the 911 dispatch report from Floyd's "arrest" outside the Cup Foods. He is zeroing in on a note in the report that says the arrestee "suspected to be under the influence". pscp.tv/UR_Ninja/1Mnxn…

(Nelson will likely tie this detail into trying to use talk of drugs to blame George Floyd for his own murder.)

Nelson solicits Scurry's statement that she asked for paramedics at the scene bc she believed Floyd was under the influence - not because officers asked for EMS on site

Nelson (Chauvin defense) is still walking Scurry through the 911 dispatch printout:

Nelson is going over more details of the incident report, says that EMS initially arrived on site then left to another area nearby

Surveillance video of Cup Foods again shows the squad car with George Floyd in it shaking back and forth "consistently during the course of the interaction with the officers" (- Nelson).

(We know the car was shaking at least in part due to the officers blows as they beat Floyd.)

Nelson has struggled with controlling his computer during using it in court today. As you can see from this frame of the court video feed, he still needs to install some Windows updates:

Nelson just finished cross examining Jena Lee Scurry, the 911 dispatcher witness. State prosecutors are doing a “re direct” of the witness - basically they get to ask her more Qs to try to counteract any strategy the defense may be using on the jury in their lines of questioning

The state has Scurry restate some details about the nature of her convos with firefighters and EMS near the scene of Mr. Floyd's killing outside Cup Foods.

State prosecutors finished their redirect on Scurry, she is now excused as a witness, her testimony is done. The state now calls its next witness -

The next witness is Alisha Oyler - Judge Cahill just swore her in.

Alisha Oyler is 23 and used to work as a shift lead at Speedway. She witnessed the killing of George Floyd and took video on scene.

Content Advisory: Coverage of this trial will often include graphic video and graphic detailed descriptions of the murder of George Floyd.

The Speedway where Oyler used to work is directly across from the Cup Foods where Derek Chauvin was filmed choking George Floyd to death:

A few minutes ago, Derek Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson broadcast the contents of his USB thumb drive to the court’s public video feed:

Oyler says she first noticed the incident outside Cup Foods when she saw a group of officers "messing with someone." ("I'm trying not to cuss...")

After Mr. Floyd was in handcuffs, the next thing Oyler remembers seeing after he was cuffed was "they ended up putting him in the police car...the one right across from Cup Foods..."

She tells prosecutors that she began recording on her cell phone shortly after.

7 cell phone recordings personally taken by Oyler were then provided to law enforcement - they are now evidence in the #DerekChauvinTrial.

the videos taken by Oyler are marked as exhibits 2-8 in this trial.

The state is now playing Oyler’s first videos alongside the corresponding portions of the surveillance video showing the cop car outside Cup Foods

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Content Advisory: this court live video feed could show graphic disturbing imagery and sounds on very short notice.

Oyler recalls "a bald officer" "yelling at people" who had observed to watch the incident unfold.

at this point in the video timeline, several officers have George Floyd pinned forcefully to the street pavement - people are just now starting to gather right by the MPD squad car. Oyler says she left work at Speedway for a cigarette around this point

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Oyler describes the officers as "messing with" Mr. Floyd when she first noticed the incident

asked if she saw bystanders interact with officers while she was still across the street, Oyler says she couldnt hear words but it seemed like the onlookers and the officers were "yelling at each other"

In this next video clip Oyler can be heard saying to someone else about George Floyd, "they had him on the other side of the car and they pulled him out on the ground"

(Steven Schleicher from the Minnesota Attorney General’s office is currently questioning the witness)

The final clip of videos provided by Oyler shows George Floyd's body being taken on a stretcher and loaded into the back of the ambulance.

"I saw a bunch of people fighting and yelling and didn't really know why, but now we obviously know why" - Alisha Oyler

Oyler says she went back to work after she finished recording while having a cig on her work break. She left work at 10 PM that night and saw crime scene tape

Schleicher publishes exhibit 8, which is the last video clip provided by Oyler. It shows crime scene tape in the area of Floyd's killing later that night after dark, after Oyler had finished her shift at the Speedway across from the Cup Foods.

Oyler says that later officers contacted her, got her to provide a statement, and she gave them the video clips that are now among the many items of evidence in this case.

Direct exam on this witness is done. Judge Cahill calls break til 3:25 central time

#DerekChauvinTrial

Court is back from a quick break. Eric Nelson (Derek Chauvin's lawyer) is now cross-examining Alisha Oyler:

pscp.tv/UR_Ninja/1Mnxn…

Nelson is asking Oyler about her view from inside Speedway through the window to Cup Foods, whether cars obscured her view across the street at any time, etc

Nelson solicits Oyler's agreement w his statement that her camera "only captured one view" ("I guess, there's multiple cameras though")

Nelson is asking Oyler if the crowd gathering to watch officers kill George Floyd were "yelling" and becoming hostile ("you can get a sense that people are angry") - clearly he is building to a narrative to try to blame the crowd for Chauvin's actions that caused Floyd's death.

Nelson is done with his cross-examination of Alisha Oyler. Schleicher from the MN AG prosecutor team does a re-direct examination of the witness, asks her if she saw Floyd resist, she says no. Oyler is now dismissed as a witness by Judge Cahill.

The state prosecution team calls the next witness to the stand - Donald Williams

*Donald Williams II

Matthew Frank, Minnesota Assistant Attorney General, is questioning the witness now, taking over from Steven Schleicher who had been questioning witnesses earlier today.

Williams says he has lived in the Twin Cities area "pretty much my whole life, i'm a city kid"

Williams used to be a wrestler and has worked in the security field for many years and has also practiced Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting. Says during his security work he has worked with Minneapolis Police officers who are hired as security while off-duty

The state prosecution team is laying a foundation that Mr. Williams has expertise on pins, restraints, choking etc. It was discussed earlier in the trial

Assistant MN AG Frank is now asking Williams more specific questions about martial arts training around chokeholds and "structures in the neck that can lead to a chokehold"... "There's air chokes and there's blood chokes...blood choke cuts off the circulation of your arteries"

Content Advisory: this testimony as well as video and audio evidence played on the live court feed contain graphic details about murder, death, and suffering

Mr. Williams says he was at Cup Foods on May 25, 2020.

Frank pulls exhibit 1 back up on the screen - that’s this map showing where Cup Foods and the cop cars involved in Mr. Floyd’s murder were placed within the surrounding block

Williams said that he noticed two police squad cars in the immediate area as he walked up to Cup Foods - said he considered leaving due to police presence but then continued towards Cup Foods but did not "make it into" the store. "The energy stopped me...the energy was off"

Asked what impacted his decision to not go into the store, Williams said he considered "do I involve myself or do I go into the store" - he heard voices of people he knew, heard someone crying for his mother. Heard someone say "you should let him up, he's not resisting arrest"

Assistant MN AG Frank enters exhibit 19, which shows Williams walking up Chicago Ave to the scene where officers are interacting with George Floyd inside the MPD squad car. Williams says at one point he sat Floyd’s head sticking out one of the squad car doors

Williams says he saw Officer Tou Thao standing at the scene. Says Thao “controlled the people, controlled me, he was the one who let it go on” (aka working the crowd of bystanders so that Chauvin’s actions towards Floyd were not interrupted)

The state offers Exhibit 17, which is a frame of video showing Derek Chauvin giving an edgy look towards Williams while he has his knee on George Floyd’s neck.

“Only reason he’s looking at me is because I told him it was a blood choke” - Williams

Williams says he heard Floyd repeatedly telling Chauvin “my stomach hurts, my head hurts, I can’t breathe, I want my mom” says Floyd was repeatedly pleading for his life.

Williams says he wanted to get closer to the incident but was limited by a “fear factor”

Williams says he did not know George Floyd at the time and is only using his name due to knowledge he gained after witnessing the indecent.

Based on his MMA training involving chokes, Williams said he could tell Floyd was having difficulty breathing - “he was gasping for air”

“No one checked his pulse” - Williams

Williams says Officer Thao told onlookers “this is what drugs do to you” and that he replied “no, this is not what drugs do to you. Says Thao’s comment “pissed me off”

Williams describes more details about MMA training re: chokes and how he saw Chauvin “shimmying to get the final choke in.” Describes what he saw as “torture”.

Judge Cahill interrupts Williams and tells jurors to “disregard the last statement”

MN Asst AG Frank asks Williams if any of the crowd of onlookers threatened officers, Williams says no, but adds one younger guy was trying to rile up the crowd and that he got him to leave for everyone's safety

Frank is now entering Exhibit 15 which is some kind of video that he says he'll only play a part of today (will likely be played in full later in the trial)

Williams is asked to point out portions of the video where he believes he saw Chauvin do a "shimmy" so as to more effectively choke the breath out of George Floyd's neck. Points out how Chauvin is positioning his foot against the ground to transmit more force via his knee.

Content Advisory: this thread will continue to include graphic descriptions of a murder

Court feed just died suddenly without warning, the problem here is on the Minnesota court system's end. We will restore the live court video feed as soon as the court employees make it available again.

Major technical glitch with the court video system cut off most media feeds (like ours) as well as family members' ability to watch from other rooms in the courthouse. Judge Cahill just dismissed the jury and ended court for the day, trial resumes tomorrow at 9:30 AM central time

The prosecution is not done with their direct examination of Donald Williams II who will resume testifying tomorrow and also has yet to be cross-examined by Chauvin's lawyer Eric Nelson

Correction: Court resumes at 9 AM central with motions being argued; jurors will return to court at 9:30 AM central.