I don't know why Chauvin's attorney didn't insist that this chair be removed before the trial began.

As a criminal defense attorney, you know optics are everything.

You've now just signaled to the jury that your client doesn't have one person willing to support him in court.
One of the most important things you want to do is have friends and family attend court for your client.

Here, because access to the courtroom is restricted, Chauvin's lawyer had to know no one was going to be showing up, so it seems a significant oversight.
It may be less important for a White former cop in front of a majority-White jury, but when you are representing a Black or Brown person in front of a majority-White jury, you are already starting from a position where you have to overcome all the usual racist tropes.
The major one of course is that your client is a criminal - because they are charged with a crime.

That's why you make sure, for instance, if your client is incarcerated, that they have street clothes.
It's why you make sure to look physically comfortable with your client, to touch them on the shoulder, lean over to talk to them etc. Hopefully that comes naturally, but you just want to make sure that you do everything you can to show the jury your client is just a person.

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More from @DrRJKavanagh

7 Apr
This is the @CNN article that @TomCottonAR tweeted with his statement that the US has an under-incarceration problem.

Problem is the entire article is based on statistics from a study by the MCCA, an organization made up of the heads of police departments.cnn.com/2021/04/03/us/…
MCCA is cited as the source of the report at the end of the article's second paragraph, but it's not made clear that it is a police organization. Image
And the rest of the article reports all the statistics as if they are objective fact.
Read 5 tweets
7 Apr
This headline is super misleading.

First, George Floyd did not die of a drug overdose.

But, if he had, what Mr. Hall theoretically could be charged with is not ordinary 3rd degree murder, but murder as a "drug-induced homicide."

Let me break that down.
nydailynews.com/news/national/…
Minnesota, like most states, has a drug-induced homicide statute. Originally intended as a tool to prosecute drug dealers, they are now used almost exclusively to prosecute family members, friends and acquaintances of people who die of drug overdoses.

theappeal.org/the-lab/explai…
Mostly the prosecutions go unreported.

However, the prosecution of Caleb Smith, a young White man, drew some attention. Mr. Smith facing 20 years in prison after giving his girlfriend fentanyl contained in an adderil pill, killed himself.

theappeal.org/murder-by-pros…
Read 6 tweets
28 Mar
So many people are telling on themselves by oh so casually mentioning the children's race in their criticism of CNN's choice of words here.
CNN could definitely have chosen more precise language, perhaps saying, "which caused the car to crash, killing the driver."
And the video of the Uber driver being killed and laying in the street is horrific. Would people so readily share similar video of a White person?

No of course not. White bodies are always blurred if they are shown at all - we saw that in the coverage of the Boulder shooting.
Read 5 tweets
27 Mar
This is a momentous decision, but California has not abolished cash bail.

Although there is a presumption of release, people can still have bail set that will hold them in jail if a court decides they are a flight risk or a risk to public safety.

latimes.com/california/sto…
California Public Defenders Association President, Jennifer Friedman, makes this point, saying the court, "failed to clearly describe the limited category of individuals who may be detained."

whdh.com/news/californi…
Sadly in situations like this: where reform comes with vaguely-defined exceptions, or where discretion is given to judges, the result can often be a continuation of the status quo - which, in this case, means poor Black and Brown people will continue to be held in jail pre-trial.
Read 4 tweets
25 Mar
BREAKING: The Daily Mail has been denied press credentials for the Derek Chauvin trial after a court found they published stolen police body camera footage of George Floyd's death last year.

independent.co.uk/news/world/ame…
The court said it was unclear if they stole the footage themselves, but a minimum they paid for footage that was clearly stolen.
The court decision is scathing.

“This Court assumes that the Daily Mail paid for the stolen video footage. The Court is therefore confident that the Daily Mail can pay to obtain the trial exhibits associated with this case."
Read 4 tweets
20 Mar
I tend to use the word cells not cages because I think the word itself dehumanizes, but there is no other word here to describe what this is.
I feel very conflicted about words like "caged" and "bodies" because my first experience of them being used in the criminal legal system was by court and corrections officers.
In the courtroom, when a person who is incarcerated is being brought up from the holding cells, the court sergeant or even the judge will refer to the person as a "body," as in "another body coming up" or "can we bring up another body." It's completely dehumanizing.
Read 7 tweets

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