Derek Chauvin trial closing arguments: Live updates

(MINNEAPOLIS) — The prosecution and defense in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd are set to take their final cracks on Monday at swaying jurors after calling more than 40 witnesses and presenting numerous videos of the 46-year-old Black man’s fatal 2020 arrest.

Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:

Apr 19, 10:55 am
‘This is not a prosecution of the police,’ prosecutor says

Schleicher made “very clear” that the state was prosecuting Derek Chauvin, not the Minneapolis Police Department, calling policing a “most noble profession.”

“This case is called the State of Minnesota versus Derek Chauvin,” Schleicher said. “This case isn’t called the State of Minnesota versus the police.”

Schleicher also said that Chauvin is not on trial for who he was, a police officer, but for “what he did,” pointing to the multiple witnesses on the scene who felt compelled to call the police on the police.”

He accused Chauvin of abandoning his values and training.

“He did not follow the department’s use of force rules,” Schleicher said. “He did not perform CPR. He knew better. He just didn’t do better.”

Apr 19, 10:45 am
Floyd’s last words were ‘Please. I can’t breathe.’: Prosecutor

Schleicher emphasized to the jury that Floyd’s last words were to plead with Chauvin.

“Floyd’s final words were, ‘Please. I can’t breathe,"” Schleicher said. “He said those words to the defendant. He asked for help with his very last breathe.”

Rather than help, Chauvin “continued to push him down, to grind his knees, to twist his hand and twist his fingers into the handcuffs that bound him,” Schleicher said.

Apr 19, 10:38 am
Prosecutor describes George Floyd’s relationship with his mother

Hennepin County Prosecutor Steve Schleicher began the state’s closing arguments by describing Floyd’s relationship with his mother, Larcenia Jones Floyd, the matriarch of the family.

“And you heard about the special bond that she and George Floyd shared during his life.” Schleicher said. “You heard about their relationship, how he would always take time, special attention to be with his mother, how he would still cuddle with her in the fetal position.”

Floyd could be heard in cellphone video calling out for his mother as Chauvin kneeled on top of him.

Apr 19, 10:17 am
Judge gives jury instructions

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill read instructions to the jury before closing arguments began.

Cahill also gave the jury definitions for reasonable doubt and reminded the jury to consider all the evidence they have heard or seen in court.

Apr 19, 9:54 am
Closing arguments to begin Monday morning

The attorneys will begin presenting their closing arguments in the high-profile case just after 10 a.m. local time, with prosecutors, who allege Chauvin killed Floyd on May 25, 2020, by holding his knee on the back of his neck for over 9 minutes, going first.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson is expected to counter that Chauvin, a 19-year police veteran, was abiding by his police training when he and two other officers put a handcuff Floyd in a prone restraint and that a sudden heart attack and drugs in his system killed him more so than Chauvin’s knee.

Once the closing arguments wrap up, the jury will be sequestered while they deliberate a verdict.

The Chauvin jury is composed of eight people who are white and six who identify as people of color, including four who are Black. They range in age from their early 20s to 60.

Among the panel are a tax auditor, an executive for a nonprofit health care company, a grandmother with an undergraduate degree in childhood psychology, a banker, an information technology manager who speaks multiple languages and a motorcycle-riding executive assistant.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and chose not to testify in his own defense.

During the trial, which began on March 29 and enters its 15th day on Monday, prosecutors relied heavily on video taken of the deadly encounter by multiple bystanders, surveillance and police body camera to make their case that the use of force Chauvin applied on Floyd was unreasonable, unnecessary and not part of any training or policies of the Minneapolis Police Department.

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