Day 5: Legal Commentary by Enrique L1 Latoison on the George Floyd / Derek Chauvin trial, Friday 4.02.2021
Home » what is family law » Day 5: Legal Commentary by Enrique L1 Latoison on the George Floyd / Derek Chauvin trial, Friday 4.02.2021
Check out the legal commentary on the George Floyd / Derek Chauvin trial. DAY 5 from last Friday, 4.02.2021
Questions-
Questions- Was the testimony from the longest-serving officer impactful?
What have been the strategies so far after 5 days of testimony?
The defense is implying a different interpretation of the video, how will that play out?
Tune in again tonight, 4.05.2021 at approximately 7:15 pm for the latest legal commentary.
Video transcript
police procedure took center stage during today’s testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial the longest serving member of the Minneapolis police department took the stand and called the use of force against George Floyd totally unnecessary both the prosecution and the defense pressed lieutenant Richard Zimmerman on the events surrounding floyd’s death zimmerman testified that in his -year career he has never been trained to put his knee across a suspect’s neck especially if that suspect is handcuffed Chauvin is accused of kneeling on george floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes zimmerman said use of force is contingent on the threat perceived by the officers minneapolis police department policy allows a police officer to use whatever means or nest are available to him to protect himself and others right yes the trial gets back underway monday morning we’re expecting to hear testimony from the chief of police and also the medical examiner and here to break this down for us is nbc legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison Enrique we just heard from that officer who said shoving’s actions were totally unnecessary how powerful is this testimony well this is two days in a row yesterday they had a sergeant testify that broke down the critical thinking of what an officer is supposed to do and how they’re supposed to base their actions on what’s happening at the time today you have the lieutenant the longest-ranking serving member of that police department and what he focused on was the fact that he was handcuffed that george floyd was handcuffed and that there is never a reason completely unnecessary when you have someone laying on their stomach face down with a knee on their neck and that you do not do that to a person is handcuffed and when a person is handcuffed at that point they maybe present a minor threat so i believe the testimony today from that lieutenant was extremely powerful this was day five of this trial a lot to take in especially for people who can’t sit and watch the whole thing can you sort of give us a summary of what you’ve seen from each side during this first week Enrique well i will say that they’ve been sticking to their plan sticking to their script even the judge today cut the trial short and said that they actually are ahead of the game at this point because pretty much both sides are sticking to exactly what they wanted to do in their opening statements the prosecution has been focusing on the fact that george died at the scene that he died from the officer’s actions and that this is not police procedure and the defense is focusing on and saying that he didn’t die at the scene this is not what caused his death and that the crowd was somehow um affecting this and the crowd delayed the medical treatment and there’s also this other angle that they’ve been pushing which is that you know a person in a semi-conscious state could come out of that be revived and be a danger and these are the themes they’ve been going back and forth on both sides and they’ve been sticking to it you talk about the officer’s actions the defense seems to be suggesting that chopin’s knee was not on george floyd’s neck what are your thoughts on that defense well i mean the jury’s going to look at this video they’re going to come to their conclusions what’s based on the evidence but you know videos are interpretable people screen videos and just automatically assume it is what it is but we’ve seen other high-profile trials with videos and one side can look at a video and they can present it in a way that works for them and the other side can do the exact same thing so even though we’re all looking at the same video the defense has been leaning towards an angle where they’re saying that maybe that his he was not on his neck and was maybe on his shoulder and of course today they said isn’t it okay to have someone on their shoulder and to put the handcuffs on them so we see this coming but the the end of the day the jury is going to look at this video and come to their conclusion and that’s what matters nbc legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison thanks for your insights all week we appreciate it happy easter same to you
Enrique Latoison - author
Managing Partner and founder of Latoison Law, Enrique Latoison, Esq. represents a diverse portfolio of clientele, including individuals, families, businesses and working professionals, in all of their legal needs. You can find him on twitter and facebook or write to him at [email protected]. Mr. Latoison earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the James E. Beasley School of Law at Temple University, where he received awards in class excellence and accolades in distinguished class performance and outstanding trial advocacy.
Home » what is family law » Day 5: Legal Commentary by Enrique L1 Latoison on the George Floyd / Derek Chauvin trial, Friday 4.02.2021
Check out the legal commentary on the George Floyd / Derek Chauvin trial. DAY 5 from last Friday, 4.02.2021
Questions-
Tune in again tonight, 4.05.2021 at approximately 7:15 pm for the latest legal commentary.
Video transcript
police procedure took center stage during today’s testimony in the Derek Chauvin murder trial the longest serving member of the Minneapolis police department took the stand and called the use of force against George Floyd totally unnecessary both the prosecution and the defense pressed lieutenant Richard Zimmerman on the events surrounding floyd’s death zimmerman testified that in his -year career he has never been trained to put his knee across a suspect’s neck especially if that suspect is handcuffed Chauvin is accused of kneeling on george floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes zimmerman said use of force is contingent on the threat perceived by the officers minneapolis police department policy allows a police officer to use whatever means or nest are available to him to protect himself and others right yes the trial gets back underway monday morning we’re expecting to hear testimony from the chief of police and also the medical examiner and here to break this down for us is nbc legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison Enrique we just heard from that officer who said shoving’s actions were totally unnecessary how powerful is this testimony well this is two days in a row yesterday they had a sergeant testify that broke down the critical thinking of what an officer is supposed to do and how they’re supposed to base their actions on what’s happening at the time today you have the lieutenant the longest-ranking serving member of that police department and what he focused on was the fact that he was handcuffed that george floyd was handcuffed and that there is never a reason completely unnecessary when you have someone laying on their stomach face down with a knee on their neck and that you do not do that to a person is handcuffed and when a person is handcuffed at that point they maybe present a minor threat so i believe the testimony today from that lieutenant was extremely powerful this was day five of this trial a lot to take in especially for people who can’t sit and watch the whole thing can you sort of give us a summary of what you’ve seen from each side during this first week Enrique well i will say that they’ve been sticking to their plan sticking to their script even the judge today cut the trial short and said that they actually are ahead of the game at this point because pretty much both sides are sticking to exactly what they wanted to do in their opening statements the prosecution has been focusing on the fact that george died at the scene that he died from the officer’s actions and that this is not police procedure and the defense is focusing on and saying that he didn’t die at the scene this is not what caused his death and that the crowd was somehow um affecting this and the crowd delayed the medical treatment and there’s also this other angle that they’ve been pushing which is that you know a person in a semi-conscious state could come out of that be revived and be a danger and these are the themes they’ve been going back and forth on both sides and they’ve been sticking to it you talk about the officer’s actions the defense seems to be suggesting that chopin’s knee was not on george floyd’s neck what are your thoughts on that defense well i mean the jury’s going to look at this video they’re going to come to their conclusions what’s based on the evidence but you know videos are interpretable people screen videos and just automatically assume it is what it is but we’ve seen other high-profile trials with videos and one side can look at a video and they can present it in a way that works for them and the other side can do the exact same thing so even though we’re all looking at the same video the defense has been leaning towards an angle where they’re saying that maybe that his he was not on his neck and was maybe on his shoulder and of course today they said isn’t it okay to have someone on their shoulder and to put the handcuffs on them so we see this coming but the the end of the day the jury is going to look at this video and come to their conclusion and that’s what matters nbc legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison thanks for your insights all week we appreciate it happy easter same to you