Barry Brodd, use-of-force expert at the trial of Derek Chauvin. Photo provided
What many folks feared finally happened on Tuesday as the defense began to put its witnesses on the stand. Through paid use-of-force expert Barry Brodd, the defense found someone willing to say that Derek Chauvin’s actions were justified. Brodd said on the witness stand that though he has been paid over $10K by the defense for his testimony, he doesn’t take one side over the other.
However, his resistance and demeanor when questioned by the prosecution, and the fact that he was the only use-of-force expert to take the stand and attempt to justify Chauvin’s actions, said otherwise.
“I felt Derek Chauvin was justified,” said Brodd who added that Chauvin’s conduct of pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes while he was handcuffed was reasonable and consistent with the Minneapolis Police Department procedures.
The day started with the defense’s thinly veiled effort to put Floyd on trial. But the video they played of him being arrested in 2019 did not convey what the defense intended. Floyd appeared extremely afraid of the police then and their treatment of him may support the reason he was so afraid of the police on the day he was killed by Chauvin.
The video showed the Minneapolis police being extremely aggressive during a drug stop. The defense did not say he was being pulled over for a possible violent crime violation yet the video depicts the cops making a big deal about his hands as if he is suspected of being armed and dangerous.
Court TV prognosticators said that the video may have caused jurors to empathize him more.
To read more, go to: https://spokesman-recorder.com/2021/04/13/day-12-of-chauvin-trial-defense-calls-its-first-witnesses/
Reposted with permission from Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.