MINNEAPOLIS —

A mostly white jury was seated Friday for the trial of a suburban Minneapolis police officer charged in Daunte Wright's shooting death, and opening statements were scheduled to begin next week.

Kim Potter, 49, is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 shooting of Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, following a traffic stop in the suburb of Brooklyn Center.

Potter, who is white, has said she meant to use her Taser on Wright after he tried to drive away from officers while they were trying to arrest him, but that she drew her handgun by mistake. Her body camera recorded the shooting.

The last two jurors, both alternates, were quickly seated Friday morning. Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday.

Nine of the first 12 jurors seated — the ones who will deliberate if no alternates are needed — are white, with one juror identifying as Black and two as Asian. It's evenly split between men and women. The two alternates are also white.

The jury roughly matches the demographics of Hennepin County, which is about 74% white. Its makeup was closely watched, as legal experts have said that juries that are diverse by race, gender and economic background are necessary to minimize bias in the legal system.

The jury is markedly less diverse than that chosen for the trial last spring of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin in George Floyd's death. In that case, the 12 who deliberated were split 50-50 between whites and people of color.

Ted Sampsell-Jones, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, said Chauvin's jury was “mostly just luck of the draw.”

He said racial and ethnic diversity matters in terms of the perceived legitimacy of the jury, but attitudes about police and policing are much more important for the case outcome.

“It might be true in general that Black people are more distrustful of police than white people, but it isn’t true as to every individual,” Sampsell-Jones said. “Lots of young white people in Hennepin County are far more progressive and anti-cop than some older Black people, for example.”

Alan Tuerkheimer, a Chicago-based jury consultant, said even a single juror of color can be enough to change the dynamics of deliberations by bringing more depth and another viewpoint to the process.

Attorneys and the judge spent considerable time probing the potential jurors for their views of protests against police brutality, which were frequent in Minneapolis even before George Floyd's death.

Questionnaires asked about attitudes toward police, including whether officers should be second-guessed, whether they should be respected and whether they are trusted.

Juror No. 11, for example, said she “somewhat agreed” that officers should not be second-guessed.

“I think sometimes you just react, and sometimes it might be a wrong reaction, but, you know, mistakes happen,” she said. “People make mistakes.”

She was seated after saying she could set that view aside and consider evidence.

Several jurors strongly disagreed that it's unreasonable to question officers' actions. Juror No. 19, the only Black person on the jury, wondered how Potter could show such a “lapse in judgment” with her experience.

“This is a servitude job, and when you get into this position, you need to understand that it’s a tough job and so you have to maintain that level of professionalism when you get into that position," she said of police officers in general.

Potter, who resigned two days after Wright's death, has told the court she will testify. Body-camera video recorded the shooting, with Potter heard saying, “Taser, Taser, Taser” before she fired, followed by, “I grabbed the wrong (expletive) gun.”

Wright was shot in Brooklyn Center as Chauvin was standing trial 10 miles away for killing Floyd. Wright's death sparked several nights of intense protests in the suburb.

The most serious charge against Potter requires prosecutors to prove recklessness; the lesser only requires them to prove culpable negligence. Minnesota's sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of just over seven years on the first-degree manslaughter count and four years on the second-degree one. Prosecutors have said they would seek a longer sentence.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Protests erupted nationwide in response to George Floyd's death after Minneapolis police officers knelt on him and pinned him to the ground on May 25. In Columbus, those protests began Thursday night and lasted into Friday morning, ending with damage to the Ohio Statehouse and other downtown buildings.

Thursday night saw a heavy police presence as the protest escalated -- where pedestrians were barred from joining the protest as it began to grow.

Ben Asks a Question is a feature we started as a way to help give you a voice during Gov. Mike DeWine's daily press briefings. Since then, Ben has gotten hundreds of questions a day. If you'd like to ask a question, find us on Facebook and feel free to message us there, or send us an email at newsdesk@wcpo.com.

At his press briefing Friday, I asked Gov. Mike DeWine if similar protest precautions to the ones taken in Columbus are being planned in other Ohio cities as more protests remain a possibility.

DeWine said local mayors are the ones responsible for their cities, but his administration will be ready to help if needed.

“I’ve had the opportunity every day to talk, most days, to talk to the mayors of our major cities,” said DeWine. “They are the ones that have primary responsibility for their cities. But they know that if they need assistance and help, we will work with them on any issue, certainly including this issue. But I know that we have good mayors; they’re very concerned about making sure that things are always done right in their cities. So I have confidence in these mayors. We are in touch. It’s not like we don’t talk, so certainly the first line of responsibility is with their police department, and with those mayors."

Friday’s press briefing was DeWine’s first briefing not related to COVID-19 since the state began ordering businesses to shut down.

DeWine said the actions of police involved in Floyd’s death “violates every principle of human decency" and "any kind of basic police training."

He is scheduled to address the public next on Tuesday, June 2.

During a speech in Cape Canaveral, Florida, President Donald Trump addressed the ongoing anti-police brutality protests throughout the country, saying that he would not allow "radical left criminals, thugs and others" to "set communities ablaze."

"We support the right of peaceful protesters, and we hear their pleas," Trump said. "But what we're seeing now in the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or peace."

Trump said that he "stands in opposition to anyone using (Floyd's death) as an opportunity to loot and rob"

Trump also called Floyd's death a "grave tragedy," and said that he spoke with Floyd's family earlier this week.

"(Floyd's death) should have never happened," Trump said.

Trump has previously asked the Department of Justice to investigate Floyd's death. but also made clear that he and his administration "support the overwhelming majority of police officers."

Earlier this week, Trump tweeted threatened to have the National Guard shoot at anyone looting at the site of protests across the country, adding that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." That particular phrase

has ties to Civil Rights opponents,

dating back to the 1960s. Twitter later hid Trump's tweet from his timeline, saying that the message

violated its terms of service by "glorifying violence."

DENVER, Colo. – Powerful images emerged from downtown Denver on Saturday.

Hundreds of people protesting police brutality lay face down at the Colorado state capitol to honor George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who died in police custody last Monday.

The unique demonstration mirrored the position Floyd was in during his final moments, face down against pavement.

A viral video of the 46-year-old’s arrest shows a police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he gasped for air and said “I can’t breathe” before he lost consciousness. He was pronounced dead at an area hospital shortly after.

The officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with the man’s murder on Friday.

Chauvin and three other officers have also been fired from the Minneapolis Police Department for their role in Floyd’s death, but many say it’s not enough and they want to see the other officers face charges as well.

Saturday's protest in Denver was one of many across the country demanding justice for Floyd. It began peacefully but turned tense during the evening hours.

There were several small fires and instances of fireworks. Crowds of protesters built makeshift fences to try to hold their ground as officers began to enforce an 8 p.m. curfew put in place by the mayor.

Police say they ended up

arresting 83 people




for curfew violations throughout the night and some of those detained had additional charges for throwing missiles, damaging property and having prohibited weapons.

Three Denver police officers and a civilian were also

severely injured






after a car struck a police vehicle




Saturday night, according to police.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Tracey Williams-Dillard is the granddaughter of an influential journalist who gave a voice to black communities when they weren’t being heard back in 1934.

"He was righting the wrong,” Williams-Dillard said.

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

is the oldest black-owned newspaper in the state of Minnesota. It was born from oppression -- lifting up voices and stories that might otherwise go unheard. But as publisher, Williams-Dillard is afraid not too much has changed in 86 years.

“You just want everybody to have equal rights. You want everybody to be okay. But it don’t end,” Williams-Dillard said. “We’re talking 1939 youth stabbed, same thing we’re talking today. Shocking video shows Minneapolis police caused man’s death.”

She’s encouraged to see people in the community protesting in the streets.

“This is a peaceful protest," Williams-Dillard said. "This is because people want to see justice. They want to see something different from what we’ve been seeing for way too long.”

It hasn’t all been peaceful. Williams-Dillard was overcome with emotion when she saw her family’s building boarded up for the first time in its history.

“When I walk up to the black press and we realize that we’re boarded up too because the violence is out of hand,” Williams-Dillard said.

They sit only a few blocks away from where George Floyd took his last breath.

“This anger, this goes back beyond Minneapolis around the nation. Some people don’t know all this history, but they feel it in their bones because their parents have lived through it,” the paper’s community editor Mel Reeves said.

Reeves is also a human rights activist and says people of color are sick of seeing their brothers and sisters killed by law enforcement time and time again.

“If you kicked me and you said ‘Oh sorry Mel,’ and then you kicked me again and you said ‘Oh sorry Mel,’ and then you kicked me again…. I’d start to think ‘maybe you’re kicking me on purpose,’" Reeves said.

Even if people aren’t inherently racist, he believes prejudice has been built into American society.

“We’re taught to be racist," Reeves said. "We’re taught to hate ourselves. White people are taught to feel superior, and black people are taught to be inferior. And we know it.”

University of Minnesota professor

Edward Goetz

studies issues of race, class and access to affordable housing.

“Systemic racism refers to racism and disparate outcomes that are built into our systems. That may have been built into our systems for reasons that have nothing to do with race, but that in fact work now to reinforce racial inequity and inequalities,” Goetz said.

For example, in the 20^th century, Goetz says there were explicit forms of racial discrimination in housing. It was illegal for some people to occupy certain types of housing and it created great wealth imbalances.

Even though those overt acts of racism may not happen now, “What that has created over time is a huge disparity in wealth because there’s been a generation or two of white people who have been able to generate a lot of wealth from their housing and have passed that wealth onto subsequent generations,” Goetz said.

Many minority groups don’t have that same privilege. Another element of systemic racism has to do with rules that are built into our systems like the way we fund our local schools – most are funded by property tax revenues and local funds.

“So you have very well-endowed schools in some neighborhoods providing tremendous opportunities and experiences for students, and you have schools in other neighborhoods that are underfunded that don’t have the most recent textbooks or facilities, and this produces disparate outcomes in education which then goes on to have impact on subsequent earnings,” Goetz said.

It’s a cycle that’s hard to break, but systemic racism goes beyond housing and school. According to Goetz, for the same crime, people of color are arrested, prosecuted and jailed more than white people.

“Systemic racism and white supremacy isn’t just a white cop with his knee on the neck of a black man. It’s the system that creates that cop, it’s the system that tolerates that cop, and it’s the system that allows officers like him to escape punishment,” Goetz said.

Acooa Ellis

has also spent time researching systemic racism. She's the Senior Vice President of Community Impact at the

Greater Twin Cities United Way

.

“There are so many people whose heart is literally to protect and serve, but too many… too many where that isn’t the case, and that behavior goes unabated, and it spreads, and it becomes part of the culture,” Ellis said.

Ellis says there are possible solutions like training officers differently, or getting them connected with the community.

“There’s something about policing a person that could live around the corner from you, or go to school with someone that you love,” Ellis said.

Ellis says she’s optimistic change is coming soon. Williams-Dillard says Minnesota Spokesman Recorder will not stop its activism until that change is made.

“My hope for going forward is that we can just be real. Let’s get real about what is happening, let’s get real about our role to be a part of the change. And let’s stop having nice conversations, and have honest ones,” Ellis said.

“We gotta keep the news out there, we gotta remind people that these are real times, and we gotta talk about it,” Williams-Dillard said.

“At some point, we gotta lay down our prejudices and our assumptions about folks, and we gotta see each other as human beings. Can’t stress that enough,” Reeves said.

“I cannot breathe. My heart is so heavy. It’s just so heavy,” Williams-Dillard said.

 

Video above: Hundreds rally near trial in George Floyd's death

Because the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death is being held during the coronavirus pandemic, the courtroom has been overhauled for safety.

Gone are the traditional jury box and gallery, replaced with widely spaced seats and desks for a limited contingent of attorneys, jurors and media. Plexiglas barriers and hand sanitizer are everywhere, and the participants – even the judge – wear masks.

The pandemic has upended court systems across the country, delaying jury trials and creating huge backlogs of cases. Video and teleconference hearings have allowed judges to keep the wheels of justice grinding, albeit slowly. Many courts have installed barriers or moved jury orientation and even trials themselves to bigger spaces such as convention centers to get at least some jury trials going again.

In Minnesota, in-person criminal jury trials have been mostly on hold since November. Chief Justice Lorie Gildea last month allowed them to resume effective March 15, with proper safety protocols consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Minnesota Department of Health. Most other proceedings will continue to be held remotely through April 30. A handful of exceptions have been allowed, including for the trial of Derek Chauvin's trial, the former Minneapolis officer charged in Floyd's death.

"We are gradually increasing in-person activities in court facilities in a safe and responsible manner that will allow the courts to fulfill our constitutional obligation, while we continue to do all that we can to protect public health and safety," Gildea said in a statement.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Floyd was declared dead May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against the Black man's neck for about nine minutes, holding his position even after Floyd went limp. Floyd's death sparked sometimes violent protests in Minneapolis and beyond, leading to a nationwide reckoning on race and one of the highest-profile trials of a police officer in U.S. history.

Citing the need to comply with social distancing and other safety rules, Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill separated Chauvin's case from that of the three other ex-officers charged in Floyd's death, who are set for trial in August. Among other things, Cahill concluded in January, no courtroom in the building was big enough to safely accommodate four defense teams and the prosecution team all at once.

Prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to persuade Cahill to reconsider his decision to hold two trials. They argued instead for holding a single joint trial sometime this summer when they hoped enough Minnesotans would have been vaccinated to reduce the risk of any participants getting COVID-19.

They submitted an affidavit from prominent University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, who warned that it could be "extremely dangerous" to try Chauvin this month, with "potentially catastrophic consequences for public health." He expressed fear that it could become a "superspreader event," given the large number of protesters and out-of-town journalists it was likely to draw, especially if more-contagious coronavirus variants cause a spike in cases.

But Cahill provided little explanation for rejecting those arguments, having already ruled that the proceedings would comply with court safety rules, and he kept the case on course for the trial's opening on Monday.

The 18th-floor courtroom Cahill borrowed is the largest in the Hennepin County Government Center, and it has been overhauled for the purposes of Chauvin's trial. The seating capacity was sharply reduced in the remodeling. The theater-style seating in what was the gallery was removed to create space. Tall plexiglass dividers separate the judge and court staffers from the limited number of other people in the courtroom. Clear plastic sheets also run down the middle of the defense and prosecution tables. When Chauvin and defense attorney Eric Nelson want to confer, they need to lean back a bit.

The normal jury box has been replaced with two rows of office chairs, spaced out, with small desks. There is no space for the general public. Seats are reserved in the back for just one Floyd family member and just one Chauvin family member. Only two pool reporters are allowed in at a time, plus a member of the Court TV team that's providing the feed.

The constitutional requirement for a public trial is being satisfied by allowing gavel-to-gavel TV coverage, which is rare in Minnesota courts. Cahill has taken pains to keep the identities of the potential jurors secret, prohibiting them from being shown on camera. But he got a surprise Tuesday when a retired judge watching from home texted him to let him know that he could see a reflection of Juror No. 1 in one of the plexiglass panels. The problem was quickly fixed.

Everyone in the courtroom is required to wear a face mask. The main exceptions are when attorneys speak at the podium, which has plastic panes on three sides, and when potential jurors respond to questions.

When the judge and the attorneys need to conduct a sidebar discussion, they don't huddle around the judge's bench like they normally would. Instead they put on headsets so they can hash out legal or procedural issues out of earshot of jurors.

Only four prosecutors and two defense attorneys are in court at any given time; the rest of their teams must participate remotely. So must the defense teams for the three other ex-officers facing trial this summer.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Warning: This live video may contain violent and/or disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.

Court is in recess

A man who was among the onlookers shouting at a Minneapolis police officer to get off George Floyd last May testified Tuesday that he called 911 after paramedics took Floyd away, "because I believed I witnessed a murder."

Donald Williams, a former wrestler who said he was trained in mixed martial arts, including chokeholds, returned to the witness stand a day after describing seeing Floyd struggle for air and his eyes roll back into his head. He said he watched Floyd "slowly fade away ... like a fish in a bag."

Prosecutor Matthew Frank played back Williams’ 911 call, on which he is heard identifying officer Derek Chauvin by his badge number and telling the dispatcher that Chauvin had been keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck despite warnings that Floyd’s life was in danger. She offers to switch him to a sergeant.

As he is being switched, Williams can he heard yelling at the officers, "Y’all is murderers, bro!"

On Monday, Williams said he thought Chauvin used a shimmying motion several times to increase the pressure on Floyd. He said he yelled to the officer that he was cutting off Floyd’s blood supply. Williams recalled that Floyd’s voice grew thicker as his breathing became more labored, and he eventually stopped moving.

During cross-examination Tuesday, Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson sought to show that Chauvin and his fellow officers found themselves in an increasingly tense and distracting situation, with the crowd of onlookers getting agitated over Floyd's treatment.

Nelson pointed out that Williams seemed to grow increasingly angry at police on the scene, swearing at and taunting Chauvin with "tough guy," "bum" and other names, then calling Chauvin expletives, which the defense attorney repeated in court..

Williams initially admitted he was getting angrier, but then backtracked and said he was controlled and professional and was pleading for Floyd's life but wasn't being heard.

Williams said he was stepping on and off the curb, and at one point, Officer Tou Thao, who was controlling the crowd, put his hand on Williams’ chest. Williams admitted under questioning that he told Thao he would beat the officers if Thao touched him again.

Williams was among the first prosecution witnesses as Chauvin, 45, went on trial on charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death. The death of the Black man after he was held down by the white officer touched off sometimes-violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality.

Prosecutors led off their case by playing part of the harrowing bystander video of Floyd's arrest. Chauvin and three other officers were fired soon after the footage became public.

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell showed the jurors the video after telling them that the number to remember was 9 minutes, 29 seconds — the amount of time Chauvin had Floyd pinned to the pavement "until the very life was squeezed out of him."

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson countered by arguing: "Derek Chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career."

Floyd was fighting efforts to put him in a squad car as the crowd of onlookers around Chauvin and his fellow officers grew and became increasingly hostile, Nelson said.

The defense attorney also disputed that Chauvin was to blame for Floyd’s death.

Floyd, 46, had none of the telltale signs of asphyxiation and had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, Nelson said. He said Floyd’s drug use, combined with his heart disease, high blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body, caused a heart rhythm disturbance that killed him.

"The evidence is far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds," Nelson said.

Blackwell, however, rejected the argument that Floyd’s drug use or any underlying health conditions were to blame, saying it was the officer's knee that killed him.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Video above: Witnesses testify in Chauvin trial

George Floyd's girlfriend cried on the witness stand Thursday as she told the story of how they first met in 2017 at a Salvation Army shelter where Floyd was a security guard with “this great Southern voice, raspy.”

“May I tell the story?” 45-year-old Courteney Ross asked on the fourth day of former Officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial. “It’s one of my favorite stories to tell.”

Prosecutors put her on the stand as part of an effort to humanize Floyd in front of the jury and portray him as more than a crime statistic.

Ross said she had gone to the shelter because her sons' father was staying there. She said she became upset because the father was not coming to the lobby to discuss their son's birthday. Floyd came over to check on her.

“Floyd has this great Southern voice, raspy. He was like, `Sis, you OK, sis?'” Ross recalled. “I was tired. We've been through so much, my sons and I, and (for) this kind person just to come up and say, ‘Can I pray with you?’ ... it was so sweet. At the time, I had lost a lot of faith in God."

Ross also explained that both she and Floyd struggled to overcome opioid addiction.

Minnesota is a rarity in explicitly permitting such “spark of life” testimony ahead of a verdict. Defense attorneys often complain that such testimony allows prosecutors to play on jurors' emotions.

The testimony came a day after prosecutors played extensive video footage: Security-camera scene of people joking around inside a convenience store, and bystander and police bodycam video of officers pulling Floyd from his SUV at gunpoint and struggling to put him in a squad car before they put him on the ground. It also showed Floyd being loaded into an ambulance.

Chauvin, 45, who is white, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing the 46-year-old Black man by kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs. The most serious charge against the now-fired officer carries up to 40 years in prison.

Floyd's struggle with three police officers trying to arrest him, seen on body-camera video, included Floyd's panicky cries of “I'm sorry, I'm sorry” and “I'm claustrophobic!” as the officers tried to push Floyd into the back of a police SUV.

At one point, Floyd bucks forward, throwing his upper body out of the car. Officers eventually give up, and Floyd thanks them — and then is taken to the ground, facedown and handcuffed. Chauvin knee pins his neck, another officer's knee holds his back and a third officer holds his legs, with the officers talking calmly about whether he might be on drugs.

“He wouldn’t get out of the car. He just wasn’t following instructions,” Officer Thomas Lane was recorded saying. Lane also asked twice if the officers should roll Floyd on his side, and later said he thinks Floyd is passing out. Another officer checked Floyd's wrist for a pulse and said he couldn’t find one.

The officers' video was part of a mountain of footage and witness testimony Wednesday showing how Floyd's alleged attempt to pass a phony $20 bill at a neighborhood market last May escalated into tragedy.

When Floyd was finally taken away by paramedics, Charles McMillian, a 61-year-old bystander who recognized Chauvin from the neighborhood, told the officer he didn't respect what Chauvin had done.

“That’s one person’s opinion," Chauvin could be heard responding. "We gotta control this guy ’cause he’s a sizable guy... and it looks like he’s probably on something.”

Floyd was 6-feet, 4-inches and 223 pounds, according to the autopsy, which also found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Chauvin's lawyer said the officer is 5-feet, 9 inches and 140 pounds.

Floyd’s death, along with the harrowing bystander video of him gasping for breath as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him, triggered sometimes violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality across the U.S.

The defense has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer’s knee, as prosecutors contend, but by Floyd’s illegal drug use, heart disease, high blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body.

Events spun out of control earlier that day soon after Floyd allegedly handed a cashier at Cup Foods, 19-year-old Christopher Martin, a counterfeit bill for a pack of cigarettes.

Martin testified Wednesday that he watched Floyd’s arrest outside with “disbelief -- and guilt.”

“If I would’ve just not tooken the bill, this could’ve been avoided,” Martin lamented, joining the burgeoning list of witnesses who expressed a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt over Floyd's death.

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin faces sentencing Friday in the death of George Floyd, with a judge weighing a prison term experts say could be as much as 30 years.

Chauvin, 45, was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for pressing his knee against Floyd's neck for about 9 1/2 minutes as the Black man said he couldn't breathe. It was an act captured on bystander video, which prompted protests around the world.

Before the sentencing hearing Friday, Judge Peter Cahill denied Chauvin's request for a new trial, saying defense attorney Eric Nelson has not shown that the court abused its discretion or that there was any prosecutorial misconduct that would have deprived Chauvin of his right to a fair trial. Nelson argued that intense publicity around Floyd’s death tainted the jury pool and that the trial should have been moved away from Minneapolis.

Here's what to watch for in a hearing that could run as long as two hours:

What's possible?

Under Minnesota statutes, Chauvin will be sentenced only on the most serious charge of second-degree murder. That's because all of the charges against him stem from one act, with one victim.

The max for that charge is 40 years, but legal experts have said there's no way he'll get that much. Case law dictates the practical maximum Chauvin could face is 30 years — double what the high end of state sentencing guidelines suggest. Anything above that risks being overturned on appeal.

Of course, Cahill could sentence Chauvin to much less. Prosecutors have asked for 30 years, while Nelson is seeking probation.

Mark Osler, a professor at University of St. Thomas School of Law, said both sides have staked out extreme positions, and the "gulf is huge between them. I don't think that either side is going to end up getting what they want."

What's realistic?

Minnesota has sentencing guidelines that were created to establish consistent sentences that don't consider factors such as race or gender. For second-degree unintentional murder, the guideline range for someone with no criminal record goes from 10 years and eight months to up to 15 years. The presumptive sentence is in the middle, at 12 1/2 years.

Cahill last month agreed with prosecutors that aggravating factors in Floyd's death warrant going higher than the guidelines. The judge found that Chauvin abused his position of authority, treated Floyd with particular cruelty, and that the crime was seen by several children. He also wrote that Chauvin knew the restraint of Floyd was dangerous.

"The prolonged use of this technique was particularly egregious in that George Floyd made it clear he was unable to breathe and expressed the view that he was dying as a result of the officers' restraint," Cahill wrote last month.

Osler said Cahill's finding of aggravating factors showed his willingness to go above the guidelines. But he said those guidelines still function like a tether, and the further Cahill moves from the guidelines, the more the tether stretches. He said a 20 or 25-year sentence is more likely than 30.

Joe Friedberg, a Minneapolis defense attorney who has been watching the case, agreed. He cited a U.S. Supreme Court case, Koon v. United States, in which the court said a judge could consider that a former police officer would likely spend much of his sentence in isolation for his own safety. Cahill might take the harder time into consideration to give Chauvin a little less, Friedberg said.

What's happened before?

Minnesota sentencing data for the five years through 2019 show that of 112 people sentenced for the same conviction as Chauvin, only two got maximum 40-year sentences. Both cases involved children who died due to abuse; both defendants had prior criminal records and struck plea deals.

The longest sentence during that time period for someone with no criminal history like Chauvin was 36 years, in another case involving the death of a child due to abuse. The sentence was appealed but upheld, with an appellate court finding it "was not excessive when a 13-month-old child was beaten to death."

What's expected at the hearing?

Attorneys on both sides are expected to make brief arguments. Victims or family members of victims can also make statements about how they've been affected, but none have said publicly that they will.

Chauvin can talk if he wants, but it's not clear if he will. Experts say it could be tricky for Chauvin to talk without implicating himself in a pending federal case accusing him of violating Floyd's civil rights.

While some experts say Chauvin won't talk, Mike Brandt, another defense attorney watching the case, said he thinks Chauvin will speak, and that he can say a few words without getting himself into legal trouble. "If I was him, I think I would want to try and let people know that I'm not a monster."

Community members can submit impact statements online, and they may become part of the public record.

What will the judge consider?

Cahill will look at arguments submitted by both sides, as well as victim impact statements, community impact statements, a pre-sentence investigation into Chauvin's past, and any statement Chauvin might make.

When judges hear from defendants, they are typically looking to see if the person takes responsibility for the crime or shows remorse. Friedberg, the defense attorney, said he doubts any statement from Chauvin would affect Cahill's sentence.

"In state court sentencing in Minnesota it just doesn't seem to matter to the judges what anybody says at the time of sentencing," Friedberg said. "When they come out on the bench they will have already decided what the sentence will be."

How long will Chauvin actually serve behind bars?

No matter what sentence Chauvin gets, in Minnesota it's presumed that a defendant with good behavior will serve two-thirds in prison and the rest on supervised release, commonly known as parole.

That means if Chauvin is sentenced to 30 years, he would likely serve 20 behind bars, as long as he causes no problems in prison. Once on supervised release, he could be sent back to prison if he violates conditions of his parole.

Since his April conviction, Chauvin has been held at the state's only maximum security prison, in Oak Park Heights. That's unusual — people don't typically go to a prison while waiting for sentencing — but Chauvin is there for security reasons. He has been on "administrative segregation" for his safety and has been in a 10 foot-by-10 foot cell, away from the general population. He has meals brought to his room, and is allowed out for solitary exercise for an average of one hour a day.

It wasn't immediately clear where he would serve his time after he is sentenced. The Department of Corrections will place Chauvin after Cahill's formal sentencing order commits Chauvin to its custody.

MINNEAPOLIS —

A Minneapolis police supervisory sergeant who was on duty the night George Floyd died testified that he believes the officers who restrained Floyd could have ended it after he stopped resisting.

David Pleoger testified Thursday at the trial of since-fired officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death. He noted that officers are trained to roll people on their side to help with their breathing after they have been restrained in the prone position.

“When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended the restraint,” Pleoger said.

“And that was after he was handcuffed and on the ground and no longer resistant?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked.

“Correct,” replied Ploeger, now retired.

Chauvin, 45 and white, is accused of killing Floyd by pinning his knee on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a neighborhood market.

His death triggered large protests around the U.S., scattered violence and widespread soul-searching over racism and police brutality. The most serious charge against Chauvin carries up to 40 years in prison.

Thursday's testimony began with Floyd’s girlfriend tearfully telling the jury how they met in 2017 — at a Salvation Army shelter where he was a security guard with “this great, deep Southern voice, raspy” — and how they both struggled with an addiction to painkillers.

“Our story, it’s a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. We both suffered from chronic pain. Mine was in my neck and his was in his back,” 45-year-old Courteney Ross said.

She said they “tried really hard to break that addiction many times.”

Prosecutors put Ross on the stand in an effort to humanize Floyd in front of the jury and portray him as more than a crime statistic, and also explain his drug use.

The defense has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do when he encountered Floyd last May and that Floyd’s death was caused by drugs, his underlying health conditions and his own adrenaline. An autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.

Ross said she and Floyd struggled with addiction throughout their relationship — testimony that could help prosecutors blunt the argument that drugs killed Floyd. Medical experts have said that while the level of fentanyl in his system could be fatal, people who use the drug regularly can develop a tolerance.

Ross said they both had prescriptions, and when those ran out, they took the prescriptions of others and used illegal drugs.

”Addiction, in my opinion, is a lifelong struggle. ... It’s not something that just kind of comes and goes. It’s something I’ll deal with forever,” she said.

In March 2020, Ross drove Floyd to the emergency room because he was in extreme stomach pain, and she learned he had overdosed. In the months that followed, Ross said, she and Floyd spent a lot of time together during the coronavirus quarantine, and Floyd was clean.

But she suspected he began using again about two weeks before his death because his behavior changed: She said there would be times when he would be up and bouncing around, and other times when he would be unintelligible.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson drove hard at Floyd’s drug use in cross-examining Ross, asking questions aimed at showing the danger of overdose and death.

Under questioning from Nelson, Ross also disclosed that Floyd’s pet name for her in his phone was “Mama” — testimony that called into question the widely reported account that Floyd was crying out for his mother as he lay pinned to the pavement.

Also Thursday, a paramedic who arrived on the scene that day testified that the first call was a Code 2, for someone with a mouth injury, but it was upgraded a minute and a half later to Code 3 — a life-threatening incident that led them to turn on the lights and siren.

Seth Bravinder said he saw no signs that Floyd was breathing or moving, and it appeared he was in cardiac arrest. A second paramedic, Derek Smith, testified that he checked for a pulse and couldn't detect one: “In layman’s terms? I thought he was dead.”

Bravinder said they loaded Floyd into the ambulance so he could get care “in an optimum environment,” but also because bystanders “appeared very upset on the sidewalk,” and there was some yelling. “In my mind at least, we wanted to get away from that,” he said.

Chauvin's lawyer has argued that the police on the scene were distracted by what they perceived as a growing and increasingly hostile crowd. Video showed around 15 onlookers near where Floyd lay.

Bravinder said after he drove the ambulance three blocks and jumped in back to help his partner, a monitor showed Floyd's heart was not beating. He said they were never able to restore a pulse.

On cross-examination, Chauvin’s lawyer questioned why the ambulance did not go straight to the hospital, and he pressed Smith on Floyd’s condition as he lay on the pavement. The paramedic expressed himself in blunt terms, saying Floyd was “dead” or “deceased.”

Ross began her testimony by telling how she and Floyd met at a shelter where Floyd was a security guard.

“May I tell the story?” she asked. “It’s one of my favorite stories to tell.”

She said she had gone to the shelter because her sons’ father was staying there. But she got upset that day because the father was not coming to the lobby to discuss their son’s birthday. Floyd came over to check on her.

“Floyd has this great, deep Southern voice, raspy,” Ross recalled. “And he’s like, ‘Sis, you OK, sis?’ And I wasn’t OK. I was like, ‘No, I’m just waiting for my sons’ father.’ He said, ‘Can I pray with you?’”

“This kind person, just to come up to me and say, ‘Can I pray with you?’ when I felt alone in this lobby, it was so sweet,” she said.

Minnesota is a rarity in explicitly permitting such “spark of life” testimony about a crime victim at trial. Defense attorneys often contend such testimony allows prosecutors to play on jurors’ emotions.

Video above: Chauvin trial ends 1st week of testimony

The trial of a former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd's death is expected to turn toward the officer's training on Monday after a first week that was dominated by emotional testimony from eyewitnesses and devastating video of Floyd's arrest.

Derek Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in the May 25 death of Floyd. Chauvin, who is white, is accused of pinning his knee on the 46-year-old Black man's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds as Floyd lay face-down in handcuffs outside of a corner market.

Prosecutors say Chauvin's knee killed Floyd. The defense argues that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd's use of drugs and underlying health conditions caused his death.

Floyd's treatment by police was captured on widely seen bystander video that soon sparked protests that rocked Minneapolis and quickly spread to other U.S. cities and beyond. The video, plus officers' body-camera video and previously unseen bystander footage, was a heavy component of the first week of the trial, reawakening traumatic memories for viewers of the livestreamed trial.

Police Chief Medaria Arradondo is expected to testify during the trial's second week, perhaps as early as Monday. Arradondo, the city's first Black chief, fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after Floyd's death, and in June called it “murder.”

“Mr. George Floyd's tragic death was not due to a lack of training — the training was there,” Arradondo said then. “Chauvin knew what he was doing.”

The city moved soon after Floyd's death to ban police chokeholds and neck restraints. Arradondo and Mayor Jacob Frey have also made several policy changes, including expanding requirements for reporting use-of-force incidents and documenting their attempts to de-escalate situations even when force isn't used.

Prosecutors have already called supervisory officers to build the case that Chauvin improperly restrained Floyd. A duty sergeant and a lieutenant who leads the homicide division both questioned Chauvin's actions in pinning Floyd after officers responded to a report that Floyd had passed a counterfeit $20 bill.

“Totally unnecessary,” Lt. Richard Zimmerman, the longest-tenured officer on the force, testified Friday. He said once Floyd was handcuffed, he saw “no reason for why the officers felt they were in danger, if that’s what they felt, and that’s what they would have to feel to be able to use that kind of force."

Zimmerman, who joined the department in 1985, said he has never been trained to kneel on someone's neck if their hands are cuffed behind their back and they are in the prone position. Officers are supposed to get a person out of the position as soon as possible because it restricts their breathing, he said.

Instead, officers continued to restrain Floyd until an ambulance arrived — even after he became unresponsive.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson peppered Zimmerman with questions about the threat a handcuffed suspect might still pose, as well as whether handcuffs might fail. Nelson has also suggested that bystanders shouting at police might have distracted them from Floyd and made them feel threatened.

Jurors heard several days of testimony from those bystanders, several choking up as they recalled feeling powerless to help Floyd and guilt over his death.

Genevieve Hansen, an off-duty firefighter who came on the scene as she was out for a walk, said she immediately recognized Floyd was in trouble and tried to offer help. Instead, Officer Tou Thao ordered her to stay on the sidewalk. Hansen, who was mostly stoic while testifying, was overcome as she recalled her frustration.

“There was a man being killed,” she said. “I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities. And this human was denied that right.”

Warning: This live video may contain violent and/or disturbing images with strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.

Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd's neck — and was bearing down with most of his weight — the entire time the Black man lay facedown with his hands cuffed behind his back, a use-of-force expert testified Wednesday at Chauvin's murder trial.

Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution witness, said that based on his review of video evidence, Chauvin's knee was on Floyd's neck from the time officers put Floyd on the ground until paramedics arrived — about 9 1/2 minutes, by prosecutors' reckoning.

Prosecutor Steve Schleicher showed jurors a composite image of five photos taken from various videos of the arrest. Stiger went through each photo, saying it appeared that the Minneapolis officer's left knee was on Floyd’s neck or neck area in each one.

"That particular force did not change during the entire restraint period?" Schleicher asked.

"Correct," Stiger replied.

Stiger also said Chauvin squeezed Floyd's fingers and pulled one of his wrists toward his handcuffs, a technique that uses pain to get someone to comply, but did not appear to let up while Floyd was restrained.

"Then at that point it’s just pain," Stiger said.

Stiger's testimony came a day after Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson sought to point out moments in the video footage when, he said, Chauvin’s knee did not appear to be on Floyd’s neck.

Nelson also has suggested that bystanders who were yelling at Chauvin to get off Floyd distracted the officers, who perceived the onlookers as an increasingly hostile crowd. On Tuesday, the defense attorney got some police witnesses to acknowledge that jeering onlookers can make it more difficult for officers to do their duty.

But Stiger told Schleicher, "I did not perceive them as being a threat," even though some onlookers were name-calling and using foul language. He added that most of the yelling was due to "their concern for Mr. Floyd."

During cross-examination, Nelson noted that dispatchers had described Floyd as between 6 feet and 6-foot-6 and possibly under the influence. Stiger agreed it was reasonable for Chauvin to come to the scene with a heightened sense of awareness.

Stiger also agreed with Nelson that an officer’s actions must be viewed from the point of view of a reasonable officer on the scene, not in hindsight.

It was Stiger's second day on the stand. On Tuesday, he testified that officers were justified in using force while Floyd was resisting their efforts to put him in a squad car. But once Floyd was on the ground and stopped resisting, officers "should have slowed down or stopped their force as well."

Stiger said that after reviewing video of the arrest, "my opinion was that the force was excessive."

Several experienced officers, including the police chief himself, have taken the stand as part of an effort by prosecutors to dismantle the argument that Chauvin was doing what he was trained to do when restrained Floyd last May.

According to testimony and records submitted Tuesday, Chauvin took a 40-hour course in 2016 on how to recognize people in crisis — including those suffering mental problems or the effects of drug use — and how to use de-escalation techniques to calm them down.

Sgt. Ker Yang, the Minneapolis police official in charge of crisis-intervention training, said officers are taught to "slow things down and re-evaluate and reassess."

Records show Chauvin also underwent training in the use of force in 2018. Lt. Johnny Mercil, a Minneapolis police use-of-force train, testified that those who attended were taught that the sanctity of life is a cornerstone of departmental policy and that officers must use the least amount of force required to get a suspect to comply.

Under cross-examination by Nelson, Mercil testified that officers are trained in some situations to use their knee across a suspect’s back or shoulder and employ their body weight to maintain control.

But Mercil added: "We tell officers to stay away from the neck when possible."

Nelson has argued that the now-fired white officer "did exactly what he had been trained to do over his 19-year career," and he has suggested that the illegal drugs in Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions are what killed him, not Chauvin’s knee.

Nelson showed Mercil several images taken from officers’ body-camera videos, asking after each one whether it showed Chauvin’s knee appearing to rest more on Floyd’s back, shoulder or shoulder blades than directly on Floyd’s neck. Mercil often agreed.

Nelson acknowledged the images were difficult to make out. They were taken at different moments during Floyd’s arrest, starting about four minutes after he was first pinned to the ground, according to time stamps on the images.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25. Floyd, 46, was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A panicky-sounding Floyd writhed and claimed to be claustrophobic as police tried to put him in the squad car.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at Chauvin sparked protests around the U.S. that descended into violence in some cases.

Instead of closing ranks to protect a fellow officer behind what has been dubbed the "blue wall of silence," some of the most experienced members of the Minneapolis force have taken the stand to openly condemn Chauvin’s actions as excessive.

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Webber reported from Fenton, Mich.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Warning: This live video may contain violent and/or disturbing images with strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.

George Floyd died of a lack of oxygen from the way he was held down by police, a retired forensic pathologist testified Friday at former Officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial.

The testimony of Lindsey Thomas, who retired in 2017 from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office in Minneapolis, bolstered the accounts of other experts on Thursday who rejected the defense theory that Floyd’s drug use and underlying health problems killed him.

Thomas did not work on Floyd's case but agreed with the findings of her former colleague Hennepin County Medical Examiner Andrew Baker that Floyd died from cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by the way law enforcement restrained him and compressed his neck.

But she went further in saying "the primary mechanism of death is asphyxia, or low oxygen."

"This is a death where both the heart and lungs stopped working. The point is, it's due to law enforcement subdual, restraint and compression," Thomas said. "The activities of the law enforcement officers resulted in Mr. Floyd’s death."

Thomas said she reached her conclusion primarily from the video, which showed Floyd "in a position where he was unable to adequately breathe.”

The autopsy itself ruled out heart attack, aneurysm, COVID-19 and other factors, and Thomas said the video showed it was not a fentanyl overdose death.

Her testimony came a day after other medical experts also said Floyd died of a lack of oxygen.

"A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died," prosecution witness Dr. Martin Tobin, a lung and critical care specialist at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and Loyola University’s medical school in Illinois, testified Thursday.

Tobin said the lack of oxygen resulted in brain damage and caused Floyd's heart to stop.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death May 25 after kneeling on him for what prosecutors say was 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd was arrested outside a neighborhood market after being accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystander video of Floyd crying that he couldn’t breathe as onlookers yelled at the white officer to get off him sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s death was caused by illegal drugs and underlying medical problems, including high blood pressure and heart disease. An autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.

Using easy-to-understand language to explain medical concepts and even loosening his necktie to illustrate a point, Tobin told the jury that Floyd's breathing was severely constricted while Chauvin and two other Minneapolis officers held the 46-year-old Black man down on his stomach with his hands cuffed behind him and his face jammed against the ground.

Tobin, analyzing images of the three officers restraining Floyd for what prosecutors say was almost 9 1/2 minutes, testified that Chauvin's knee was “virtually on the neck” more than 90% of the time.

He said several other factors also made it difficult for Floyd to breathe: officers lifting up on the suspect's handcuffs, the hard pavement, his prone position, his turned head and a knee on his back.

Tobin also testified that just because Floyd was talking and can be seen moving on video doesn't mean he was breathing adequately. He said a leg movement seen in the footage was an involuntary sign of a fatal brain injury, and that a person can continue to speak until the airway narrows to 15%, after which "you are in deep trouble."

Officers can be heard on video telling Floyd that if he can talk, he can breathe.

Related video: Derek Chauvin's trial attorney aims to raise doubtThe trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd 's death enters its third week Monday, with the state nearing the end of a case built on searing witness accounts, official rejections of the neck restraint and expert testimony attributing Floyd's death to a lack of oxygen.Derek Chauvin, 45, who is white, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25 death. Police were called to a neighborhood market where Floyd, who was Black, was accused of trying to pass a counterfeit bill. Bystander video of Floyd, pinned by Chauvin and two other officers as he cried “I can't breathe” and eventually grew still, sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S.Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson argues that Floyd's death was caused by drug use and underlying health conditions including a bad heart. He's expected to call his own medical experts after the prosecution wraps its case, expected early this week. Nelson hasn't said whether Chauvin will testify.The second week of the trial was dominated by technical testimony, beginning with senior Minneapolis Police Department officials, including Chief Medaria Arradondo, testifying that Chauvin's restraint of Floyd violated department policy.Prosecutors say Floyd was pinned for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Police officials testified that while officers might sometimes use a knee across a person's back or shoulder to gain or maintain control, they're also taught the specific dangers for a person in Floyd's position — prone on his stomach, with his hands cuffed behind him — and how such a person must be turned into a side recovery position as soon as possible.Prosecutors called a string of medical experts to testify that Floyd died due to a lack of oxygen, led by Dr. Martin Tobin, a lung and critical care specialist who walked jurors through graphics and charts and had them feel their own necks as he analyzed evidence from videos. Tobin testified that other factors, not just Chauvin's knee, made it hard for Floyd to breathe: officers lifting up his handcuffs, the hard pavement, his turned head and a knee on his back. He pinpointed the moment when he said he could see Floyd take his last breath — and said Chauvin's knee remained on Floyd's neck another 3 minutes, 2 seconds.“At the beginning, you can see he’s conscious, you can see slight flickering, and then it disappears,” Tobin said as he highlighted a still image from police body-camera video. “That’s the moment the life goes out of his body.”Nelson sought to raise doubt about the prosecution's case. During testimony about Chauvin's use of the neck restraint, he sought to point out moments in video footage when he said Chauvin's knee didn't appear to be on Floyd's neck. And he again questioned officers about how a gathering crowd might affect officers' use of force.A potential gap in prosecutors' case appeared Friday when Hennepin County's chief medical examiner, Dr. Andrew Baker, testified that the way police held Floyd down and compressed his neck “was just more than Mr. Floyd could take” given his heart issues.Baker didn't attribute Floyd's death to asphyxia, as several prosecution medical experts did. And while he said that neither Floyd’s heart problems nor drugs caused his death, he agreed with Nelson that those factors “played a role” in the death.Ted Sampsell-Jones, a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, said Baker's testimony might raise a reasonable doubt about cause of death, but that the legal standard for establishing causation is quite low. The state has to show only that Chauvin’s conduct was a substantial contributing cause.“If the state had to show that Chauvin’s conduct was the sole or even primary cause of death, the case would be in real trouble,” Sampsell-Jones said.

Warning: The above video may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

A suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a weekend traffic stop accidentally drew her firearm instead of a stun gun, the city's police chief said Monday. Although rare, a string of similar incidents has happened in recent years across the U.S.

Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said the officer, who has not been identified, had made a mistake in firing her gun at 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who later died. Video of the shooting taken from the officer's body camera includes audio of her saying "Holy (expletive)! I shot him," after firing a single round from her handgun.

Gannon said that the officer's immediate distress showed her use of the gun was unintentional.

"As you can hear, the officer, while struggling with Mr. Wright yells 'Taser! Taser!' several times. That is part of the officer's training prior to deploying a Taser, which is a less lethal device," Gannon said. "As I watch the video and listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet."

Some questions and answers about officers who mistakenly discharge firearms when they intended to draw and deploy stun guns:

HOW FREQUENTLY DOES THIS HAPPEN?

Experts agree this is a real but very rare occurrence that probably happens less than once a year nationwide. A 2012 article published in the monthly law journal of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement documented nine cases in which officers shot suspects with handguns when they said they meant to fire stun guns dating back to 2001.

WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?

Reasons cited include officer training, the way they carry their weapons and the pressure of dangerous, chaotic situations. To avoid confusion, officers typically carry their stun guns on their weak sides — or their nondominant hand — and away from handguns that are carried on the side of their strong arms. This is the case in Brooklyn Center, where Gannon, the police chief, said officers are trained to carry a handgun on their dominant side and their stun gun on their weak side.

Bill Lewinski, an expert on police psychology and founder of the Force Science Institute in Mankato, Minnesota, has used the phrase "slip and capture" errors to describe the phenomenon. Lewinski, who has testified on behalf of police, has said officers sometimes perform the direct opposite of their intended actions under stress — their actions "slip" and are "captured" by a stronger response. He notes that officers train far more often on drawing and firing their handguns than they do on their stun guns.

Other experts express skepticism about the theory.

"There's no science behind it," said Geoffrey Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina and an expert on police use of force. "It's a good theory, but we have no idea if it's accurate."

Alpert said a major factor in why officers mistakenly draw their firearm is that stun guns typically look and feel like a firearm. St. Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Melvin Carter brought up the same point during a news conference Monday.

"Why do we even have Tasers that operate and function and feel and deploy exactly like a firearm?" Carter asked. "Why can't we have Tasers that look and feel different? That you could never mistake for deploying a firearm so that we can ensure that mistake that has happened before can never happen again?"

WHAT ARE SOME OTHER CASES?

In one of most well-known cases, a transit officer responding to a fight at a train station in Oakland, California, killed 22-year-old Oscar Grant in 2009. The officer, Johannes Mehserle, testified at trial that, fearing Grant had a weapon, he reached for his stun gun but mistakenly pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead. Grant was shot as he lay face down. Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. His department paid $2.8 million to Grant's daughter and her mother.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a white volunteer sheriff's deputy, Robert Bates, accidentally fired his handgun when he meant to deploy his stun gun on an unarmed Black man, Eric Harris, who was being held down by other officers in 2015. Bates apologized for killing Harris but described his deadly mistake as a common problem in law enforcement, saying: "This has happened a number of times around the country... You must believe me, it can happen to anyone." Bates was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. Tulsa County ultimately agreed to pay $6 million to Harris' estate to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit.

In 2019, a suburban St. Louis police officer, Julia Crews, said she meant to use her stun gun but mistakenly grabbed her service revolver and shot a suspected shoplifter, Ashley Hall, who suffered serious injuries. Crews resigned and has pleaded not guilty to a pending charge of second-degree assault. The city of Ladue admitted no wrongdoing as part of a $2 million settlement with Hall.

MINNEAPOLIS —

The defense for a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death was set to start presenting its case Tuesday, following 11 days of a prosecution narrative that combined wrenching video with clinical analysis by medical and use-of-force experts to condemn Derek Chauvin's actions.

Prosecutors called their final witnesses Monday, leaving only some administrative matters before they were expected to rest Tuesday. Once the defense takes over, Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson is expected to have his own experts testify that it was Floyd's drug use and bad heart, not Chauvin's actions, that killed him.

The defense hasn't said whether Chauvin will take the stand.

Prosecutors effectively wrapped up their case with George Floyd's younger brother, alternately smiling and tearing up as he recalled Floyd, followed by another look at the harrowing video and testimony from a use-of-force expert who said Chauvin's actions were clearly unreasonable.

Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, judged Chauvin's actions against what a reasonable police officer in the same situation would have done, and repeatedly found that Chauvin did not meet the test.

"No reasonable officer would have believed that that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force," Stoughton said of the way Floyd was held facedown with a knee across his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

He said, too, that the failure to roll Floyd over and render aid "as his increasing medical distress became obvious" was unreasonable.

He said it was unreasonable as well to think that Floyd might harm officers or escape after he had been handcuffed to the ground. And in yet another blow to Chauvin's defense, Stoughton said a reasonable officer would not have viewed the yelling bystanders as a threat.

The matter of what is reasonable carries great weight: Police officers are allowed certain latitude to use deadly force when someone puts the officer or other people in danger. But legal experts say a key question for the jury will be whether Chauvin's actions were reasonable in those specific circumstances.

On cross-examination, Nelson questioned Stoughton's opinion that putting Floyd on his stomach in the first place was itself unreasonable and excessive.

"Reasonable minds can disagree, agreed?" Nelson asked.

"On this particular point, no," the witness said.

Earlier Monday, Philonise Floyd, 39, took the witness stand and lovingly recalled how his older brother used to make the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches, how George drilled him in catching a football, and the way George used to mark his height on the wall as a boy because he wanted to grow taller.

He shed tears as he was shown a picture of his late mother and a young George, saying, "I miss both of them."

His testimony at Chauvin's murder trial was part of an effort by prosecutors to humanize George Floyd in front of the jury and make the 46-year-old Black man more than a crime statistic. Minnesota is a rarity in allowing "spark of life" testimony during the trial stage.

Philonise Floyd described growing up in a poor area of Houston with George and their other siblings.

He said Floyd played football and deliberately threw the ball at different angles so Philonise would have to practice diving for it. "I always thought my brother couldn't throw. But he never intended to throw the ball to me," he said, smiling.

Earlier Monday, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request to immediately sequester the jury, the morning after the killing of a Black man during a traffic stop triggered unrest in a suburb just outside Minneapolis.

Chauvin's attorney had argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.

But the judge said he will not sequester the jury until next Monday, when he expects closing arguments to begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what they might have seen about Sunday's police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.

The Brooklyn Center police chief later called the shooting accidental, saying the officer who fired apparently meant to draw a Taser, not a handgun.

Stoughton, the use-of-force expert, said the officers who subdued Floyd should have known he was not trying to attack them when he struggled and frantically said he was claustrophobic as they tried to put him in a squad car.

"I don't see him presenting a threat of anything," Stoughton said, adding that no reasonable officer would conclude otherwise.

Stoughton also pointed to instances when Chauvin should have been aware of Floyd's growing distress: After one officer suggested rolling Floyd onto his side, Chauvin said no. The 19-year police veteran ignored bystanders who were shouting that Floyd was not responsive. And when another officer said Floyd didn't have a pulse, Stoughton said, Chauvin's response was "Huh."

Mike Brandt, a local defense attorney closely watching the case, said Philonise Floyd's testimony was irrelevant to whether Chauvin caused Floyd's death, "but it certainly plays on the sympathy of the jury." He said Stoughton's testimony gave prosecutors an opportunity to leave the jury "with one more image of the video" of Floyd pleading for his life.

"It was the parting shot by the state," Brandt said.

Earlier Monday, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed previous witnesses in saying Floyd died of low oxygen levels from the way he was held down by police.

He rejected defense theories that Floyd died of a drug overdose or a heart condition. Floyd had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, high blood pressure and narrowing of the heart arteries, according to previous testimony.

"It was the truly the prone restraint and positional restraints that led to his asphyxiation," Rich said.

In fact, the expert said, "Every indicator is that Mr. Floyd had actually an exceptionally strong heart."

On cross-examination, Nelson tried to shift blame onto Floyd, asking if Floyd would have survived had he "simply gotten in the back seat of the squad car."

But Rich rejected that line of argument: "Had he not been restrained in the way in which he was, I think he would have survived that day. I think he would have gone home, or wherever he was going to go."

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Find AP's full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

The attorney for the former officer charged with killing George Floyd says several studies suggest police can safely use their body weight to hold a handcuffed suspect facedown on the ground — or prone — as Floyd was in the last minutes of his life.

But those findings aren't universally accepted and have been contradicted by a parade of law enforcement and medical experts central to prosecutors’ efforts to convict Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter.

On Wednesday, a forensic pathologist testified that Floyd died of a sudden heart rhythm disturbance as a result of his heart disease, which contradicted prosecutors' expert testimony that said Floyd's death was caused by a lack of oxygen from the way he was pinned down.

Dr. David Fowler, a former Maryland chief medical examiner who is now with a consulting firm, said Wednesday the fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd's system, and possibly carbon monoxide poisoning from auto exhaust, were contributing factors in the 46-year-old Black man's death last May.

“All of those combined to cause Mr. Floyd’s death,” he said on the second day of the defense case.

Fowler also testified that he would classify the manner of death “undetermined,” rather than homicide, as the county's chief medical examiner ruled. He said Floyd's death had too many conflicting factors, some of which could be ruled homicide and some that could be considered accidental.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson is trying to prove that the 19-year Minneapolis police veteran did what he was trained to do and that Floyd died because of his illegal drug use and underlying health problems.

Prosecutors say Floyd died because the white officer's knee was pressed against Floyd’s neck or neck area for 9 1/2 minutes as he lay on the pavement on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind him and his face jammed against the ground.

Fowler listed a multitude of factors or potential ones: Floyd’s narrowed arteries, his enlarged heart, his high blood pressure, his drug use, the stress of his restraint, the vehicle exhaust, and a tumor or growth in his lower abdomen that can sometimes play a role in high blood pressure by releasing “fight-or-flight” hormones.

Fowler said all of those factors could have acted together to cause Floyd’s heart to work harder, suffer an arrhythmia, or abnormal rhythm, and suddenly stop.

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell launched an aggressive cross-examination, attacking Fowler's findings down the line. He got Fowler to acknowledge that even someone who dies from being deprived of oxygen ultimately dies of an arrhythmia.

He also got Fowler to admit that he didn’t take the weight of Chauvin’s gear into account when he analyzed the pressure on Floyd’s body. Blackwell further accused Fowler of jumping to conclusions and suggesting to the jury that Floyd had a white pill in his mouth in the video of his arrest. Fowler denied saying that.

Bystander and surveillance camera video shows Floyd on his stomach with his hands cuffed behind his back, pinned to the ground by three officers.

Chauvin was closest to Floyd's head, and a use-of-force expert testified that Chauvin applied pressure to Floyd's neck area for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

Nelson suggested Chauvin's knee was not on Floyd's neck for that entire time but moved to his upper back, shoulder blades and arm.

Medical experts testified for the prosecution that the prone position cuts lung volume, reduces oxygen levels and makes it harder to breathe.

They also pointed to Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck, his body being pressed against the hard asphalt and his head being turned to the side as factors that prevented Floyd from breathing, resulting in his death.

Nelson leaned on studies conducted by doctors at the University of California San Diego that concluded prone positions are not inherently risky.

Prosecutors also attacked Fowler's testimony about carbon monoxide, which displaces oxygen in the bloodstream.

In his original testimony, Fowler said carbon monoxide could have contributed to oxygen depletion in Floyd, noting that he was facing the tailpipe end of a squad car. But Floyd's blood was never tested for carbon monoxide.

“You haven’t seen any data or test results that showed Mr. Floyd had a single injury from carbon monoxide. Is that true?” Blackwell asked.

“That is correct, because it was never sent,” Fowler said.

Blackwell also noted that the squad car was a gas-electric hybrid and that Fowler had no data on how much carbon monoxide was actually released. And he suggested that the witness assumed the engine was running at the time. Fowler said he believed it was.

The prosecutor also got Fowler to agree that it would take four minutes to cause irreversible brain damage if the brain is starved of oxygen, and that insufficient oxygen can cause the heart to stop.

"And if a person dies as a result of low oxygen, that person is also going to die ultimately of a fatal arrhythmia, right?” Blackwell asked.

Fowler responded: “Correct. Every one of us in this room will have a fatal arrhythmia at some point.”

Fowler further agreed that Floyd should have been given immediate attention when he went into cardiac arrest because there still was a chance to save him at that point.

A number of medical experts called by prosecutors have said Floyd died from a lack of oxygen because his breathing was constricted by the way he was held down. A cardiology expert rejected the notion that Floyd died of heart problems, saying all indications were that he had "an exceptionally strong heart.”

But Fowler said that Chauvin’s knee on Floyd was “nowhere close to his airway” and that Floyd’s speaking and groaning showed that his airway was still open. He also testified that Chauvin’s knee was not applied with enough pressure to cause any bruises or scrapes on Floyd’s neck or back.

And he said that Floyd did not complain of vision changes or other symptoms consistent with hypoxia, or insufficient oxygen to the brain and that he was coherent until shortly before he suddenly stopped moving.

“The bottom line is, moving air in and out, and speaking and making noise is very good evidence that the airway was not closed,” Fowler said.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death after his arrest on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 at a neighborhood market. The video of Floyd gasping that he couldn't breathe as bystanders yelled at Chauvin to get off him triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious examination of racism and policing in the U.S.

The defense hasn’t said whether Chauvin will take the stand.

Kathleen Foody contributed to this report.

On Thursday, officials in Minneapolis began the process of reopening the city block where George Floyd died in police custody last May to traffic.

While members of Minneapolis Public Works were able to remove barriers surrounding the square and clear out some of the artwork, protesters arrived in the area Thursday morning, impeding the process. As of 3 p.m. ET, traffic is not flowing through the intersection.

The intersection of 38th St. and Chicago Ave. in Minneapolis has been closed to traffic since last summer when Floyd was murdered in police custody by then-Officer Derek Chauvin.

Since the intersection's closure, the space has been reclaimed as a haven for mourners, protesters and artists who have flocked to the area bearing flowers, gifts and other offerings. It's become informally known in the area as "George Floyd Square."

According to WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, officials with Minneapolis Public Works arrived at 4:30 a.m. local time to begin clearing out the intersection. Officials noted that crews took "great care to preserve artwork and artifacts."

However, KARE-TV in Minneapolis reports that crews were forced to stop work just before 6 a.m. local time after a crowd of protesters gathered.

In a press conference on Thursday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed that while the city still hopes to open the area to traffic, he said it will likely take "several days." He declined to give a specific timeline for the project.

"It will take several days; we recognize there is still pain," Frey said.

A spokesperson for the Agape Movement — an organization that works with the city to bridge the gap between the community and law enforcement — said the group has been negotiating with the mayor's office and other city officials regarding George Floyd square.

"We wanted to make the statement that the community can open this up... the community should open this up," Floyd said. "They (the city) just wanted to add traffic so they can open up, and we can begin to move to a new normal, to build this community up the way it's supposed to be. Did we expect pushback? Yeah, we expected that."

KSTP-TV reports that several memorial items in the area, including a large sculpture of a fist, will remain in place.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Warning: The above video may contain violent and/or disturbing images with strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.

The jury reached a verdict Tuesday at the murder trial of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, the Black man who was pinned to the pavement with a knee on his neck in a case that set off a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

The verdict, arrived at after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days, was to be read late in the afternoon in a city on edge against the possibility of more unrest like that that erupted last spring.

The courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and thousands of National Guardsmen and other law enforcement officers were brought in ahead of the verdict.

Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a 45-year-old now-fired white officer, pinned his knee on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes.

The jury, made up of six white people and six Black or multiracial people, weighed charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, with convictions on some, none or all of the charges possible. The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.

Earlier in the day Tuesday, President Joe Biden weighed in by saying he believes the case is "overwhelming." Other politicians and ordinary citizens also offered their opinion.

"It shouldn't be really even questioned whether there will be an acquittal or a verdict that doesn’t meet the scale of the crime that was committed," Rep. Ilhan Omar said in Brooklyn Center, a suburb just outside Minneapolis. The congresswoman said the Chauvin case looks open-and-shut.

Guilty verdicts could mark a turning point in the fight for racial equality, she said.

"We are holding on to one another for support. Hopefully this verdict will come soon and the community will start the process of healing," Omar said.

In Washington, the president said that he had spoken to Floyd's family on Monday and "can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they’re feeling."

"They're a good family and they're calling for peace and tranquility no matter what that verdict is," Biden said. "I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict. I think it's overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered now."

The president has repeatedly denounced Floyd's death but previously stopped short of commenting on the trial itself.

Ahead of a verdict, some stores were boarded up in Minneapolis, the courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard troops were on patrol. Last spring, Floyd’s death set off protests along with vandalism and arson in Minneapolis.

The city has also been on edge in recent days over the deadly police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man, Daunte Wright, in Brooklyn Center on April 11.

___

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and Associated Press writers Doug Glass, in Minneapolis, Mohamed Ibrahim in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.

MINNEAPOLIS —

A shooting in downtown Minneapolis killed two people and wounded eight others, police said early Saturday.

The 10 people shot included five men and five women, the police department said in a series of tweets.

Two of the men died and another man was at a hospital in critical condition, police said. The other seven wounded people had injuries not considered to be life-threatening.

No arrests were immediately announced.

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Police spokesperson John Elder said the gunfire stemmed from two men in a crowd who got into an argument, pulled out guns and started shooting, KMSP-TV reported.

Members of George Floyd's family on Saturday praised the news that four former Minneapolis police officers will face federal charges in connection to his death, saying they were "very grateful."

Floyd's nephew Brandon Williams said during a news conference held not far from the Houston apartments where his uncle grew up that the indictments "meant the world" to his family.

"If you saw that video, it's self explanatory. We all know that it was a murder and a torture in broad daylight," Williams said, referring to bystander video that showed the officers restraining George Floyd in late May 2020, with one kneeling on his uncle's neck. "We all know that his civil rights were violated."

"But this gives us hope," he said. "This lets us know that there is change on the way if we keep pressing and mashing the gas for people in leadership to pass laws. We need police reform. There's no way the color of your skin or your race dictates how you are policed when in police custody. That's absolutely unacceptable."

The Department of Justice announced the indictment Friday, alleging ex-officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane had violated George Floyd's rights when they restrained him in late May 2020.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for all four officers for comment. Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson declined to comment, as did Thomas Plunkett, an attorney representing Kueng.

The indictment says Chauvin -- who was convicted of state murder charges in Floyd's death last month -- deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer, as he knelt on the 46-year-old Black man. Thao and Kueng were charged in connection to their failure to intervene, and all four officers were charged for failing to give Floyd medical attention.

Thao, Kueng and Lane have also pleaded not guilty to state charges. Their joint trial is expected later this summer.

The family was told about the indictments during a 15-minute phone call Friday with Attorney General Merrick Garland, said Rodney Floyd, George Floyd's brother.

"You could hear the sincerity in is voice, you could hear that he was very touched and moved by our brother's death and these police officers' conduct."

"It put a smile on our faces," Rodney Floyd said, and the family believes Garland is "going to give this his all, one hundred percent" and hold the officers accountable.

Civil rights lawyer and Floyd family attorney Ben Crump also spoke at the news conference Saturday, along with U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green and Houston City Councilwoman Carolyn Evans-Shabazz.

Jackson Lee, Green and Crump commended the Justice Department, with Crump framing the indictments as an indication to future generations that the department would "be here to make sure that all of American citizens are afforded the constitutional rights of life and liberty and equal justice."

"The winds of change are blowing across this country," Green said. "And with these winds of change, we now have a Justice Department that understands that it doesn't end at the state level. The Justice Department can pick these cases up and let us have complete justice."

Jackson Lee echoed that sentiment, saying, "Today ... we announce that the Department of Justice is open for business, and lives will be saved."