Jury begins deliberations in trial of US ex-cop over black man's fatal arrest

MINNEAPOLIS • Jurors in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin began deliberations on Monday after a prosecutor implored them to "believe your eyes" as he replayed a video of the former Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the dying Mr George Floyd's neck.

Chauvin's lawyer, Mr Eric Nelson, countered in his own closing argument that Chauvin behaved as any "reasonable police officer" would, saying that he followed his training from 19 years on the force.

Over and over again, Mr Steve Schleicher, a prosecutor with the Minnesota Attorney-General's Office, repeated: "Nine minutes and 29 seconds", the length of time Chauvin was captured on video on May 25 last year with his knee on Mr Floyd's neck.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill gave the jury final instructions before it left the courtroom at 4pm to begin deliberations.

Jurors adjourned after four hours and were sequestered in a hotel. Deliberations resumed yesterday.

Although the verdict will be seen as a reckoning of the way the United States polices black people, Mr Schleicher emphasised in remarks that lasted nearly two hours that the jury was weighing the guilt of only one man, not a system.

"This wasn't policing; this was murder," Mr Schleicher told jurors.

He cited the motto of the Minneapolis Police Department, which fired Chauvin and three other officers after Floyd's arrest: "To protect with courage and to serve with compassion."

Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed black man, outside the grocery store where Mr Floyd had been accused of buying cigarettes with a fake US$20 (S$26) bill. Bystanders screamed at Chauvin to get off and check Mr Floyd's pulse.

Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree "depraved mind" murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Mr Nelson said prosecutors were wrong to dismiss his theory that carbon monoxide poisoning from the nearby police car's exhaust and Mr Floyd's use of the opioid fentanyl may have contributed to his death.

Chauvin watched jurors listen to his lawyer, who spoke for nearly three hours.

In a final rebuttal, Mr Jerry Blackwell, another prosecutor, scoffed at the carbon monoxide theory.

"What 'reasonable police officer', when apprehending someone on the ground, subdues them and puts their face in front of a tailpipe of a car, and then thinks that's a defence?" he asked.

For the second-degree murder charge, 12 jurors will have to agree that prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin committed a felony, in this case assault, that was a substantial cause in Mr Floyd's death.

They do not have to find that Chauvin intended to kill Mr Floyd.

That crime carries a punishment of up to 40 years in prison, although sentencing guidelines call for a shorter sentence of up to 15 years for someone with no prior convictions.

REUTERS