Covering the Chauvin trial
I don’t think you’ll find better coverage of the Chauvin trial than Andrew Branca’s work at Legal Insurrection. In the past, he’s covered all these racially-tinged trials involving police, as well as the Zimmerman trial, and he’s done so thoroughly and fairly.
It also probably won’t surprise you that Branca’s take is often different from the story the MSM tells, although Branca has correctly predicted the outcomes (all the outcomes,if I’m not mistaken) so far. Yesterday Branca described these differences between how the MSM tends to cover the Chauvin trial and the way he does it:
From what I’ve seen of media coverage, which for me occurs only when the case recesses during the day and the talking heads pop up during the break, is that the media effectively only covers the direct questioning of the state’s witnesses. As a result, the public only hears the state’s version of the facts.
Well, just like if you only hear one side of any argument, it’s natural for the public to conclude that the state is KILLING IT!!!! in this trial, and that it’s SUPER OBVIOUS!!!! that Chauvin is a RACIST POLICE MURDER ER!!!! You NAZI!!!!
There’s a reason that our legal system is adversarial in nature, however, and that’s for the obvious reason that there’s always two sides to every story. It’s only by listening to both sides, with their individual strengths and weaknesses, that one can have an overall informed opinion about what likely happened.
The jury in this trial will get both sides, and hopefully arrive at a verdict based on both sides.
The public, especially the public willing to riot, loot, and arson (arson must be a verb by now, right?), is however hearing only the narrative of guilt in this case. That means that anything other than a guilty verdict can only come as a complete shock to their sense of justice, and therefore a complete justification of any terror they wish to bring to bear to the public generally.And who is responsible for this? Well, the rioters, looters, and arsonists are responsible for their own conduct, for certain. It’s kind of hard to not also assign blame to the media pouring out the gasoline across the public square and sparking the matches.
Branca usually writes two posts on the trial every day, and the second one from yesterday can be found here. In it, he discusses some video clips shown in the trial:
Perhaps the most notable line of questioning of Addarondo by Nelson occurred when Nelson showed the Chief two videos of Chauvin’s knee near Floyd’s neck, but with the videos shot from different angles—one was the bystander video, the other a body worn camera video.
When asked if the bystander video made it appear that Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck, the Chief answered that it did appear to be located there.
When then asked if the body worn camera video made it appear that Chauvin’s knee was not on Floyd’s neck, but on Floyd’s shoulder blade, the Chief agreed that this also appeared to be the case.
The state would respond on re-direct by having Addarondo claim that he noticed this discrepancy only in the last few seconds before the paramedics swept up Floyd, and that prior to that point it appeared throughout that Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck—but I can’t help but wonder if this video angle disparity might not encourage some of the jurors to view the videos with more skepticism than might otherwise have been the case.
Much more at the link, and new posts every day (today’s first post can be found here).
Ahh, Saint George Floyd, who lived an exemplary life and was full of fentanyl and meth when he “couldn’t breathe”.
I do not understand why there was not a change of venue, to South Dakota for example. Ain’t that far, so all the MSP weasels could have taken time off their busy (Ha!) jobs to testify there before an unbiased jury.
We are absurdly elevating blacks, criminals or not, to a high plateau based on melanin.
We should have picked our own cotton, the saying goes.
I’ve been following Branca’s coverage, and although I wasn’t expecting much from the prosecution, I am a little surprised at what a weak case they have presented so far. They haven’t really offered a coherent explanation of exactly how Chauvin killed Floyd. All they have offered is speculation from witnesses who don’t really know what they are talking about. Not that this will necessarily matter to the jury.
I also wonder if there is a critical race theory guide to reworking the trial system. Concepts like objective evidence and reasonable doubt are surely relics of a white supremacist colonial justice system. The new system would need to put much more weight on the subjective feelings of witnesses especially if they are witnesses of color.
Scott Johnson at Power Line has stopped his coverage so I’m reading Legal Insurrection. The coverage is excellent.
1. The Fake News *never* states the fact that Floyd had 3x a fatal dose of fentanyl in his blood.
2. Floyd outweighed Chauvin by 100 pounds!
There will be riots either way the jury goes. Because.
The Fake News is really horrible and their political bias and desire to pump up controversies is one of the reasons that America is in such bad shape these days. I’m very, very pessimistic.
Chauvin will be convicted of something because the jurors are afraid their own houses will get burned down. Who wouldn’t have that fear?
The case should have been moved to Duluth and tried in the dead of winter. I think the trial judge’s failure to change venues is reversible error, but I don’t expect the liberal MN appellate courts to make that finding.
I agree that Branca’s trial coverage at Legal Insurrection is excellent . It should be noted that Branca has been much more favorable to Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson than some others, notably PowerLine, who have questioned whether Nelson is being aggressive enough. Branca portrays Nelson as forgoing histrionics but methodically undermining the prosecution case in cross-examination. It will be interesting to see how he pursues the defense, especially whether he calls Chauvin to testify on his own behalf.
I’ll repeat what I’ve said before:
It takes only one juror with courage to hang the jury (and thus not lynch Chauvin).
I recall a couple of, imagine, CNN commenters wondering if the prosecution were actually trying to lose the Zimmerman case. I expect not, but the case was so weak that even competence couldn’t make it look good–and perhaps they were incompetent.
Nevertheless, so many have so much invested in the Chauvin trial, as with Zimmerman, that reality is hardly relevant. I know people who still insist Martin was “stalked and murdered”. I’m not sure if they believe it, but they certainly believe they have to speak as if they do.
There is no reason to think this case is any different.
The vile media builds up one side of the case so it comes as a surprise to people that there’s actually another, very/more credible, perspective. For example, this is the first I’ve heard that there was no pressure/leaning on Floyd’s neck. And I’m fairly attuned (or like to think so) to the contranews! I just hope that the jurors aren’t intimidated into a racist verdict in order to appease the ragemob. One of the things that Branca talked about a day or so ago is that Chauvin only has one attorney presenting his case while there are 6-8 prosecuting attorneys who tag in and out. There is a huge burden on an attorney trying a long cause case alone and being responsible for questioning/presenting each witness but I think it also presents much more credibly and consistently to a jury, having one person in charge, and it’s also much more sympathetic.
It appears the final autopsy diagnoses were altered, if I recall correctly. The first report concluded St. Floyd had coronary and hypertensive heart disease, plus lethal blood levels of fentanyl.
The more recently reported autopsy diagnosis is he died of “asphyxiation”.
I must say I would not live in the Twin Cities under any circumstances. The insanity there is more infectious than COVID or polio, and much more harmful.
There is no way Chauvin is going to get off. Should one juror not vote to convict, we will see lower-class blacks, BLM, and Antifa torching and looting many cities, especially in the spineless Biden era, where blacks and Democrats can do no wrong.
FOAF,
Absolutely no, zero, nil, nada, null, nihil, 0% chance that Chauvin is called to testify. From his and his attorney’s perspective absolutely no good could come of it and a myriad of negative outcomes would be possible.
AMartel,
I’m pretty sure neo has reported an excerpt from the autopsy that indicates there were no signs of excessive trauma, or some such wording, to Floyd’s trachea/windpipe from an external force (Chauvin’s knee).
Again, I forget the exact wording, but I think she has written on the autopsy on at least two, separate occasions and called attention to that discrepancy.
Well, the rioters, looters, and arsonists are responsible for their own conduct, for certain. It’s kind of hard to not also assign blame to the media pouring out the gasoline across the public square and sparking the matches.
The people committing the crimes are guilty – just as Floyd was guilty of taking drugs, possibly right after the cops pulled up so it was an overdose — like a couple of years ago, which he survived.
Chauvin is guilty of some amount of police brutality – but I don’t think it’s spelled out in any manual how long a restraint is kept before it becomes “too long”.
The paramedics are guilty of being slow.
The media is guilty of biased and one-sided coverage. Not at all like their coverage of the defense in OJ’s trial.
Far too many blacks are guilty of bad behavior, and blaming their bad behavior on whites.
I wonder if 100,000 national guards will go up there as the verdict is reported, or even 25,000. If not, the gov’t will be guilty of under-protection. Too bad the decision makers have so much immunity.
I fear the Chauvin trial is a lawful lynching, a state-sponsored production fully supported by the Progressive media playbook. It has all become about race and gender, and the importance of basing persuasion arguments on facts, truths, and merits fades further and further. The corporations are climbing on board now, as if their opinions on social matters are more important than a devotion of focus to managing the quality and delivery of their product to their customers and investors. Who knew they have so much free time?
Last week, United Airlines jumped on the bandwagon and condemned the new legislation in their corporate home state, Texas, because it mandates Voter ID. Today, they made the announcement that they plan to have women and People of Color to make up half of the newly hired pilots they accept into their new flight school.
Doesn’t that fill you full of confidence in the qualifications of your future flight crew, knowing that they will be selected for their skin color or sex, instead of their flying capability & prowess, experience, or maybe even eyesight? Aren’t you impressed by social, political, and corporate groups thinking they can engineer a shift in social sensibilities by just creating buzz campaigns announcing their preferences, regardless of the harm it might bring to you personally? Shall we discuss suspending test scoring on the flight simulator exams for future pilots of color and correct gender?
And today’s summary shows the terrible flaws in the case to the point that the defense is later going to recall one of the prosecution’s witnesses to basically testify for the defense. I cannot help but predict that Minneapolis is going to burn to the ground when this trial is over.
Viva Frei & Fred Barnes have been providing more balanced legal commentary as well, and Barnes has significant criminal defense experience. You can find their installments in the Viva Frei channel on youtube or rumble. Nate the Lawyer’s content is worth checking out as well.
I suspect that one reason that major news media is so biased in their coverage, beyond sheer politics, is that they’d also built up this incident to the point that it precipitated mass rioting and an authoritarian putsch through many institutions. They’re certainly not going to expose the fact that the narrative they’d established was largely false.
“…built up this incident to the point that it precipitated mass rioting…”
With, it must not be forgotten, the active encouragement of the Democratic Party, whose claim to fame (one of many) is their pervasive insistence that not only was there NO rioting and NO violence—i.e., that these were non-existent “myths” bandied about without a shred of evidence by Trump and his Deplorable supporters—but that any violence that MAY have occurred was actually perpetrated by the Right, who (pace the always reliable Michelle Obama) were preparing to foist even more violence and mayhem upon the American People in the run up to the November election, etc. etc.
(Hence the critical importance of January 6, 2021…and the absolute necessity of perpetuating it.)
To be fair, bolsheviks gotta do what bolsheviks gotta do….
Thanks for the Legal Insurrection info.
In addition to what I previously posted, I believe Rufus is correct that the initial autopsy report stated there was no injury to larynx or trachea.
I think lawyer Nelson’s defense will rely about 90% on that report, and grill the medical examiner(s).
I am reading Atty. Branca’s summary of the Day 7 testimony at Legal Insurrection. The defense is shredding prosecution witnesses. Contra some comments above, it is not even clear that Chauvin (5’9″, 140 lbs.) used excessive force to restrain the drug-addled Floyd (6’3″, 230 lbs.). At the very least there is ample reasonable doubt here.
I spent years doing both expert witness and percipient witness testimony on medical matters. At one time I considered writing a book with my trial lawyer son on how to use expert witnesses. I have seen how crucial good lawyering is in both civil and criminal cases. It is damned depressing to see how important the lawyer is. Nelson seems to be doing a great job although he must be exhausted by the work. An amusing comparison is the movie “Clueless” and the team the father had working on his cases.
At the very least there is ample reasonable doubt here.
Remember that the LAPD cops were acquitted by the criminal jury in the Rodney King case and the Clinton DOJ immediately brought civil rights charges. It also shifted the second trial to downtown LA to get blacks on the jury, which sent them all to prison
Yes, Mike K, this Minneapolis jury may not follow the defense’s points. “Justice” may not be available.
“Remember that the LAPD cops were acquitted by the criminal jury in the Rodney King case and the Clinton DOJ immediately brought civil rights charges. It also shifted the second trial to downtown LA to get blacks on the jury, which sent them all to prison” – Mike K
Which proves that we do have systemic racism in America, doesn’t it?
Changing the polarity of the system is not an improvement.
There are still a few sane people in the world, though.
https://1776unites.com/essays/1776-unites-open-letter-to-smith-college/?mc_cid=b2d505a573
RTWT, and the list of signatories.
I don’t agree with the inequitable capitalization of race signifiers (all or none IMO), but the letter is pure gold.