George Floyd 3 , CD3 DFL

DFL Party Statement on the Verdict in the Chauvin Trial

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement on the results of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin:

“I am grateful that our legal system has reached a just verdict and held George Floyd’s murderer accountable, particularly given how often it fails to deliver justice in the cases of clear police misconduct towards Black Americans. It is my sincere hope that today’s ruling is the beginning of a new paradigm wherein law enforcement is held to account when they abuse the trust and authority placed in them.

“While George Floyd’s murderer is going to jail, the fact remains that the very systems which led to this tragedy in the first place still exist. Thankfully, there was justice in the courts today, and now we need justice for George Floyd in the legislature. George Floyd should still be alive today, and until we pass serious police reform and accountability measures, the likelihood of this happening again here remains very high.

Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3): Difficult Truths

Hi Neighbors,

This week our community experienced more heartbreak, said more prayers, and saw more carnage. As we continue to grapple with the killing of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center and await a verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, I believe I speak for most Americans when I say injustice must be protested, journalists, and the First Amendment must be protected, and encouraging violent confrontation must be rejected.

Let me be clear – Racial injustice is real. Protesting injustice is lawful and warranted. Criminal looting and burning destroys our communities and small businesses is wrong. We can believe all of these things at once, and I’m on a mission help our community confront difficult truths and do better together. Will you join me?

Derek Chauvin’s witnesses include former Maryland medical examiner being sued over ‘chillingly similar’ case

When the video of George Floyd gasping for air under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin emerged last year, it told a story that was painfully familiar to Anton Black’s family.

Black encountered police on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the fall of 2018, when officers responding to a call about a possible kidnapping wrestled the 19-year-old to the ground. Video footage released later showed the officers in Greensboro, Md., struggling with Black before pinning him down. Black died, and no officers were charged in his death.

Then came Floyd’s death last year, another video of a Black man being held down by police and dying. The cases, Black’s family said in a court filing, were “chillingly similar.” Now they are connected in another way: Among the experts Chauvin’s defense called this week was the former Maryland medical examiner who deemed Black’s death an accident, a determination his family pilloried in a federal lawsuit filed in December. Continue reading.

How right-wing media keeps smearing George Floyd with the racist ‘no angel’ narrative

In an appalling bit of shorthand, the riveting courtroom drama in Minneapolis has come to be called “the George Floyd trial.”

Floyd died in police custody last spring and is obviously not the one on trial. It was a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for more than nine unrelenting minutes, who now faces second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges.

But some in right-wing media keep doing their utmost to make this tragedy about Floyd’s drug use and troubled life, in what seems like an attempt to absolve Chauvin long before the jury reaches a verdict. In effect, they are putting Floyd on trial. Continue reading.

Minneapolis police chief gives dramatic testimony on Chauvin trial

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified Monday that former city police officer Derek Chauvin was not using the defense tactics taught by his police department with suspects resisting arrest when he pinned George Floyd to the street, placing his knee to Floyd’s neck.

“Once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to in person, proned out, handcuffed behind their back, that in no way shape or form is anything that is by policy, is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics,” Arrandondo said in testimony to prosecutor Steve Schleicher.

Asked if he believed that Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on Floyd’s neck for an extended period of time followed the department’s de-escalation policy, Arradondo, who like Floyd is Black, responded, “I absolutely do not.” Continue reading.

Why Does DirecTV Subsidize Racist Far-Right OAN Network?

After the police killing of George Floyd, both DirecTV and its parent company, AT&T, made statements across social media claiming to support racial justice, including “advancing equal justice reforms” for Black Americans and promising to “continue to learn and listen” to their experiences with racism. DirecTV even promoted racial justice programming titled after some of Floyd’s final words, “I can’t breathe,” to promote “discussion on systemic racism in our society.” But these messages are a stark contrast to the racist lies spread on right-wing cable outlet One America News — programming that DirecTV and AT&T financially support.

Like most pay-TV contracts, DirecTV pays OAN subscription fees, also known as carriage fees, in exchange for the conservative network being available to DirecTV customers, whose subscription costs pay for OAN. The network reportedly relies on these subscriber fees — not ad revenue, which at Fox has proven vulnerable to controversy — as its primary funding source. DirecTV is also OAN’s largest distributor, making the service a vital lifeline for the up-and-coming network with an “almost pre-web” online presence and only a fraction of the audience of Fox News.

OAN claims its distribution reaches 35 million viewers compared to Fox News’ 84 million, though a spring 2019 Nielsen attempt to quantify OAN ratings (since the network does not subscribe to Nielsen) with data from some large metro areas found an average of 14,000 nightly viewers, compared to Fox’s 631,000. With OAN’s reported 13.6 million DirecTV subscribers, at a rate of 15 cents per subscriber per month, OAN would cost DirecTV $24,480,000 every year. Continue reading.

Derek Chauvin trial represents a defining moment in America’s racial history

Chauvin case to add to national racial legacy

George Floyd pleading for his life under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer has become a defining moment of our time.

What began 10 months ago at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue has transformed into nothing less than an American reckoning on justice, racial equity, the proper role of law enforcement and the historical wrongs society has perpetrated on Black people.

Monday morning, that moment leads to the 18th-floor courtroom of the Hennepin County Government Center, where a jury will begin to hear a murder and manslaughter case against since-fired police officer Derek Chauvin. Continue reading.

Derek Chauvin trial: 911 dispatcher testifies ‘Something was not right’ during arrest that led to George Floyd’s death

First witness takes stand following opening statements.

Attorneys in the Derek Chauvin murder trial on Monday made their case before jurors who will decide the fired Minneapolis police officer’s fate in the killing of George Floyd 10 months ago.

An opening statement from prosecutor Jerry Blackwell began shortly before 9:40 a.m. in front of a global livestream audience in downtown Minneapolis in the heavily guarded Hennepin County Government Center and explained how the state will prove that Chauvin killed Floyd and should convicted of murder and manslaughter.

Nearly an hour later, defense attorney Eric Nelson followed with his opening statement and declared that Chauvin acted precisely as his training taught him. Continue reading.

2 jurors dismissed in Derek Chauvin murder trial over hearing of $27M settlement; 7 remain

The judge questioned 7 jurors about whether the record lawsuit payout agreed upon last week affected their ability to assure Chauvin a fair trial.

The influence of extensive publicity again took center stage at the murder trial of fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Wednesday, with two seated jurors dismissed amid an announcement that the city has agreed to pay George Floyd’s survivors $27 million.

The total number of jurors shrank to seven after Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill removed two who said they had heard about a federal lawsuit settlement reached last week and admitted it affected their ability to assure Chauvin of his constitutional right to be presumed innocent during the course of the trial.

Before questioning, Cahill began the court session by warning journalists against reporting what is on notes and computers in courtroom, along with the security details on the 18th floor. He called it “extremely irresponsible” and said there would be sanctions if these disclosures continued. Continue reading.

$27M settlement coming amid Derek Chauvin trial jury selection called ‘unfortunate’ by court; day ends with 9 jurors so far

Defense feels that announcement of the settlement during jury selection harms chance at a fair trial.

The $27 million civil settlement the city of Minneapolis reached last week with the family of George Floyd weighed with heavily upon the ongoing jury selection in the murder trial of fired police officer Derek Chauvin, while the number of jurors chosen grew to nine by the end of proceedings Monday.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson expressed deep concern that jurors already chosen and those yet to be selected will be prejudiced should they learn of the settlement, thereby denying his client his right to a fair trial. During Friday’s proceedings, the City Council signed off on the settlement, followed by a widely publicized announcement.

Before the prospective jurors were questioned, Nelson said, “I am gravely concerned with the news that broke on Friday related to the civil settlement. … The fact that this came in the exact middle of jury selection is perplexing to me, your honor.” Continue reading.

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