I Can't Breathe

Attorney for Minneapolis police officer says he'll argue George Floyd died of an overdose and a heart condition
Richard Read
LA TimesAugust 20, 2020, 6:00 AM EDT

The public quickly reached its verdict: Minneapolis police killed George Floyd.

Video seen around the world shows him on the pavement, his neck pinned beneath the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, pleading for his life - "I can't breathe" - until his body goes limp.

Two autopsies concluded the death was a homicide.

Chauvin was charged with murder and three other officers - Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng, who both helped hold down Floyd, and Tou Thao, who kept onlookers at bay - were charged as accomplices.

In an interview with The Times, a lawyer for Lane laid out what he said would be a central argument for the defense.

"None of these guys - even Chauvin - actually killed him," said the attorney, Earl Gray. "He killed himself."

Free to speak publicly since a judge lifted a gag order on all parties in the case, Gray said he plans to argue that Floyd died from an overdose of the powerful opioid fentanyl and an underlying heart condition.

"We are going to show that my client and the other cops were doing their jobs," he said.

The veteran criminal defense attorney said he will base his case on toxicology and autopsy reports as well as recently released police body camera footage that offers a fuller picture than the cellphone videos taken by people on the street.

The body camera videos show that well before Floyd was pinned to the ground, he told the officers at least six times: "I can't breathe."

Legal experts said that defense strategy is not as far-fetched as it may seem, especially given that juries have been reluctant to convict police in on-duty killings.

"This is not a slam dunk for the prosecution and not an easy case, especially for the higher-degree homicide charges," said Philip Stinson, a Bowling Green State University criminologist and former cop who studies police misconduct. "If this case goes to trial and an officer testifies on his own behalf, it is possible there is reasonable doubt there for jurors."

No case in modern times has reverberated through society like that of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man whose death on May 25 confirmed for many a longstanding national pattern of police racism and abuse.

Protests quickly spread, becoming the largest in U.S. history and extending to more than 60 countries in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

All four officers were fired and are free on bail. Attorneys for Chauvin, Kueng and Thao declined to comment, as did prosecutors in the case.

Last month, Gray filed a motion seeking dismissal of the case against Lane. The filing included transcripts of the video from his body camera and from the one worn by Kueng, opening the door to making the recordings public.

The footage, which was released last week and covers 37 continuous minutes, starts when the officers arrive at a convenience store in response to a call that a customer had presented a counterfeit $20 bill.

Lane rapped his flashlight on the window of a Mercedes-Benz SUV parked near the store.

"Let me see your hands," he said to Floyd, who sat in the driver's seat.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Floyd said.

Lane, on his fourth day as a police officer, demanded to see both hands. "Put your ... hands up right now!" he said to Floyd, who asked, "What we do, Mr. Officer?"

When Floyd did not immediately comply with instructions, Lane pointed a gun at him.

"Please don't shoot me, man," Floyd said.

"I'm not shooting you, man," Lane said, holstering his gun once Floyd raised his hands.

Christine Gardiner, a criminal justice professor at Cal State Fullerton, said the adversarial approach, common in policing, set the tone for escalation.

"If they would have approached him respectfully, I think things would have turned out very differently," she said.

The video shows that officers handcuffed Floyd and walked him toward the curb. He staggered, weaved and cried out.

Asked whether he was "on something," Floyd said he'd been "hooping," or taking drugs.

The officers directed him to a police car and ordered him to get inside. He resisted, repeatedly saying he was claustrophobic and couldn't breathe.

They tried to shove him into the backseat. Lane offered to stay with him, roll down the windows and turn on the air conditioning. Finally the officers decided to lay him down on the street.

Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 30 seconds - 44 seconds longer than prosecutors initially alleged.

In his July 7 motion, Gray included Minneapolis police training material on how to deal with an uncooperative suspect in handcuffs. A restraint position illustrated in a photograph closely resembles the method the officers used.

The instruction material also includes a warning: "Sudden cardiac arrest typically occurs immediately following a violent struggle."

On June 5, the Minneapolis City Council voted to ban chokeholds and neck restraints by police.

Stephen Houze, a Portland, Ore., attorney who has represented officers accused of brutality, said that the degree to which the defendants followed their training would be important at trial.

Still, he added: "No explanation offered now to avoid criminal responsibility can diminish the potency of the video."

The defense does not have to prove that Chauvin didn't kill Floyd. It only has to create reasonable doubt by persuading jurors that there are other plausible explanations.

George Parry, a former federal and state prosecutor who once headed a police brutality and misconduct unit of the Philadelphia district attorney's office, suggested that would not be difficult.

Writing this month in the conservative magazine the American Spectator, Parry focused on Floyd's erratic behavior, his early complaints of breathing problems and the findings that he suffered from coronary artery disease and had a potentially fatal concentration of fentanyl in his blood.

"So, who killed George Floyd?" Parry wrote. "He did."

But Carl Hart, a Columbia University neuroscientist, said that human response to psychoactive drugs is far too complex to draw conclusions solely based on fentanyl concentrations, which fluctuate rapidly and can increase after death as the drug breaks down in the body.

"If the officer didn't put his knee on George Floyd's neck, he would most likely be alive today," Hart said.

That opinion is consistent with the autopsy conducted by the county medical examiner's office, which found that the death was caused by "cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s)."

A second postmortem examination, led by Dr. Michael Baden, an expert hired by the Floyd family, concluded that he was killed by asphyxiation.

In an interview, Baden said that regardless of anything Floyd said about breathing trouble, or drugs or underlying health problems, "He died because of the way he was restrained, period."

Asked whether he believed the officers meant to kill Floyd, Baden said: "I don't think they intended to kill him, no."

Proving intent is a key part of the case prosecutors must make.

Chauvin was originally charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, which requires prosecutors to prove that a defendant did something risky and caused a death without meaning to do so.

But after public protests that Chauvin deserved greater punishment, Minnesota authorities added a charge of second-degree murder, alleging that he caused Floyd's death while intentionally inflicting bodily harm.

The prosecution doesn't need to prove that Chauvin intended to kill Floyd, only that he committed a felony assault and in the process caused the death.

Suzanne Luban, a Stanford Law lecturer, said that a minimum the evidence suggests that Chauvin behaved recklessly. He repeatedly rejected suggestions by Lane - who was concerned that a condition called "excited delirium" could be setting in - to move Floyd.

"Just leave him," Chauvin said.

Gray noted that the officers showed concern for Floyd early in the encounter, calling an ambulance because his mouth was bleeding from a scrape sustained when they tried getting him the squad car - and that they upped the urgency of the call.

"If these cops had the intent to kill this guy or seriously injure him, why the hell did they call the ambulance?" he asked.

A conviction on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter would require proof that they intentionally helped commit a crime.

Convictions of police in on-duty killings are rare.

Gray served on the legal team that won an acquittal for the officer who shot Philando Castile, a Black school cafeteria supervisor killed during a daytime traffic stop near Minneapolis in 2016.

Castile's girlfriend had captured the aftermath of the shooting in a video that went viral and sparked nationwide outrage.

The trial of the four officers in the Floyd case is scheduled for March, but delays are common and plea bargains possible.

Ronald Tyler, a professor at Stanford Law School and director of its Criminal Defense Clinic, said that the case may come down to showing the jury that two sets of facts can both be valid.

"Someone can be under the influence of a drug and can then suffer a homicide at the hands of police," he said. "That's what appears to be the case here."

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Dora Hates You

The same way he's going to die in prison.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Yeah, I htink they'd all walk if they would get an unbiased jury. Doubt they will get one, however.

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I :heart; Q

The cop was stupid to put his knee on the guy's neck. The cop guaranteed that he would never receive a fair trial.

George Floyd told police he was struggling to breathe before an officer put a knee on his neck. - NBC News

This case isn't as cut and dry as the couple of seconds of imagery that most of us have seen. Regardless, the dumb cop is probably going to have to go to prison whether he is actually guilty or not to prevent our streets from burning more than they already are.



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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” - Barack Obama

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

He was dumb to restrain a black person. Had it been a white guy, there would have been no problem. That would be the lesson I'd expect cops to get out of all of this. As a result, there will be more black criminals roaming around free in black neighborhoods and, therefore, more black deaths. And that is just fine with the progs.

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I :heart; Q

Speaking of dumb, how about that en banc hearing?

But, regardless, , , , , the glove is beginning to "not fit".

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Dora Hates You

You must be exhausted from all of the mental gymnastics you do daily in order to make things align to your myopic view...


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QOP = Terrorists
FK = Gay

Great thinking! Forget about justice and all that, Send the guilty cops to prison "to prevent our streets from burning more"

But by the logic of the "standby" cop, Tou Thao, he stated, "in school we're trained like, hey, if a suspect's claiming they cant breathe, if they're talking, then they're breathing."

Awesome dotard logic!

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GOP:

Gaslight
Obstruct
Project

Ehhhhhh. That was kind of my point. We have moved beyond deciding whether or not the defendant committed the crime they were accused of and more towards a mob rule where you have to take into account someone's race, sex, and sexual preference to determine whether they will be found guilty or not, not equal justice under the law.

Also, I'm not sure what your point is about the cop's statement. If someone is really choking, the voicebox is silent because there is no air entering or leaving the body. I'm not saying that the guy wasn't having some sort of breathing problems but if the cop is saying that he used the fact that the guy was talking to determine that he did not have a blocked airway then that would be spot on.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” - Barack Obama

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

Hey Snipe Killer: a little experiment.
I'll kneel on your fat red neck for nine minutes.
If you live you're guilty. If you don't: Orwell....
Stinking treasonous chumpfscum magat swine.

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It's a democratic hoax

To be fair, he would have to have his hands in cuffs behind him,

and someone else holding his legs.

Any volunteers?

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GOP:

Gaslight
Obstruct
Project

LOL I'll videotape the experiment. Make sure you have waivers.

Well, quite a few quacks here who are calling for "justice", except it is for what they want justice to be.

The only true, whole, justice will be derived from a Jury Trial. Period. No telling how that all will transpire. Too soon to tell.

The "body cam" footage will be causing a total social media conflagration, , , !!!! The private phone videos will be "interesting" but, the body cam footage is official.

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Dora Hates You

That's why it takes so long for the footage to come out to the public, or through a FOIA request.

Those things are too damning...

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GOP:

Gaslight
Obstruct
Project

There are plenty of charges that the prosecution could have brought that would have been no-brainer slam dunks but 2nd-degree murder is probably going to be a real challenge for them to prove. If the cop gets acquitted then it isn't because he wasn't guilty of a crime. It will be because the prosecution tried him for a crime that they couldn't prove.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” - Barack Obama

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

"given that juries have been reluctant to convict police in on-duty killings"



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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

"Convictions of police in on-duty killings are rare. " going to get less rare

No justice, no peace.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

We saw what he did. The whole world did.

Of course the cop defense attorney is going to say it wasn't his fault, that's what he's getting paid to do.

People who love the taste of boot polish are going to eat up the defense argument because it aligns with their prejudice.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

The problem they have is that they bumped up the charges to 2nd-degree murder. The cop is DEFINITELY guilty of something but it may be very difficult to convince a jury that this cop wasn't just trying to restrain George Floyd but that he knew he was murdering George Floyd and that was what he wanted to do....while he knew he was being filmed and had plenty of witnesses. I think they bit off more than they can chew by going for 2nd-degree murder.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” - Barack Obama

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

All the DA has to do is play the full video in his closing argument

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"I remember South Africa in the late 70's, sleeping on the beach at J-bay, smoking ganja with the blacks. On weekends we'd go to the pub in East London to drink beer and fight with the Afrikaners. They liked to fight, I liked to fight. It was a good time"

Ding loves the police state as long as it is crushing the necks of those people. So yeah, believe the defense attorney and vote for Trump so the black people and messicans don't get you before the COVID does.

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...

If they play All the videos they will show an uncooperative felon resisting arrest!

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Romans 8;18-32 John 3;16-18

If you copy and paste all of your posts on this forum into one reply they will show the most racist member of 2ndlight.com.

Overdose alone, it would seem. All that rioting for nothing. What a shame.

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I :heart; Q

Oh, Darn!!!!!

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Dora Hates You

So there they were, staring at the just-received and damning toxicology report that blew to smithereens the whole prosecution theory that the police had killed Floyd. To their undoubted dismay, Dr. Baker, the chief medical examiner, had to concede that at 11 ng/mL, Floyd had "a fatal level of fentanyl under normal circumstances." He also conceded that the fentanyl overdose "can cause pulmonary edema," a frothy fluid build-up in the lungs that was evidenced by the finding at autopsy that Floyd's lungs weighed two to three times normal weight.

---

This is consistent with Officer Kueng's observation at the scene that Floyd was foaming at the mouth and, as found at autopsy, that his lungs were "diffusely congested and edematous."

---

In other words, like a drowned man, Floyd's lungs were filled with fluid. And that was the obvious and inescapable reason why Floyd kept shouting over and over again that he couldn't breathe even when he was upright and mobile.

---

The memorandum ends with Dr. Baker's devastating conclusion that "if Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors he [Dr. Baker] would conclude that it was an overdose death."

---

Translation: this toxicology report drives a stake through the heart of our murder case. How do we justify criminally charging these police officers and explain away our colossal screw-up?

---

It is quite telling that this explosively exculpatory June 1 memorandum was not released by the prosecution until August 25, 2020. All of which prompts these questions:

---

First, why did the prosecution wait three months to release this memorandum?

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Second, if the prosecution had released this information in a timely fashion, would that have helped to quell the anti-police outrage that has fueled the nationwide orgy of rioting and looting?

---

Third, in light of Floyd's toxicology results and the medical examiner's assessment that Floyd's fentanyl overdose caused him to essentially drown in his own bodily fluid, why haven't the charges against all of the police defendants been dropped?

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The handwriting is on the wall. Through all of the rioting, looting, and burning, the prosecution has kept secret its knowledge that George Floyd died as the result of a self-administered overdose of fentanyl. The Chief Medical Examiner of Hennepin County said as much way back on May 31, 2020.

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Romans 8;18-32 John 3;16-18

you hangin with happy digits now ? got that secret tape, you saw what was shown at first then the other video from cops and others showed up you saw what the world saw, delusions of grandeur

Is cheater volunteering for our experiment?

What..

In the

Fuuu ..did that mean?

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Zzzzzzz.. Zzzzzzz.. Braaaaaapp!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Edited: 08/26/2020 at 04:30 PM by fishkller

The lawyers can tell us, but I think the jury can consider a lesser charge in these situations.

As far as a jury being the only "true, whole justice" I'd say that doesn't have a very good track record here in the south.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Here's an interesting legal analysis of the charges.

http://www.heritage.org/crime-...ge-george-floyds-death

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

With the new revelation that the prosecutor withheld the toxicology....

My bet.....they walk!

ALL of them.

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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Just because someone is under the influence doesn't mean they deserve a death penalty. This is the problem. Floyd was not doing anything wrong at all. He did not resist. He allegedly used a counterfeit bill. But no proof is shown that he did. But because, and if, he was on drugs he deserves to die? No.

Obviously you are ignorant and can't READ!

The medical examiner CLEARLY stated that if Floyd was found alone with no one around him the death certificate would read DEATH BY OVERDOSE.

He took a FATAL amount of Fentanyl!

FATAL!

Do you understand the term FATAL AMOUNT?!?!

Stupid mofo you are!

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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Don't confuse the little dears with facts!

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Romans 8;18-32 John 3;16-18

Other forensics teams did not agree with that statement, like the US government. He was buying stuff from a store. How fucking gone could he have been? That's bullshit.

"The medical examiner had released a summary report on Monday, which ruled Floyd's manner of death as a homicide. It stated the cause of death was "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression."

Edited: 08/27/2020 at 11:47 AM by HAPDigital

YOU CANT ARGUE WITH THE FUCKING BLOOD TOXICOLOGY...NO MATTER HOW MANY PAID-OFF MEDICAL ASSHOLES YOU CONJURE UP!

FACT!

ASSHOLE!



-------------------------
The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Edited: 08/27/2020 at 03:39 PM by Fish Killer

He wouldn't have died if the cop wasn't on his neck for ten minutes. It's obviously murder.

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I was right.

Edited: 08/27/2020 at 03:40 PM by Cole

A flat out BULLSHIT LIE!

He was going to die 100% no matter what!

FACT!

"It isn't uncommon for someone to fatally OD on fentanyl with a serum level (ng/mL) of 2-4. George Floyd's fentanyl serum level reported in his autopsy report was 11."

"According to George Floyd's toxicology report, his blood contained 11.0 ng/mL Fentanyl, plus 5.6 ng/mL norfentanyl, 19 ng/mL of methamphetamine, and three other drugs"

ARE YOU THAT STUPID?!?!?!

Oh wait...you're Coleslaw...IQ69!

-------------------------
The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Edited: 08/27/2020 at 03:49 PM by Fish Killer

Yeah pretty sure a knee on someone's neck for 10 minutes would result in death. One of these dotards should volunteer to see what happens.


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QOP = Terrorists
FK = Gay

It was murder and he will be charged as such.



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I was right.

This is all going to turn out just like the time FK said that nazi in Charlotte was acting in self defense. He was wrong. He will be wrong about the Kenosha kid too. He has already been found wrong with his Blake list all disproved by the Wisconsin AG.

Edited: 08/27/2020 at 05:56 PM by HAPDigital

It wasn't the first time Chauvin knelt on someone's neck

Nearly three years before Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd as he cried out that he couldn't breathe last May, Zoya Code found herself in a similar position: handcuffed facedown on the ground, with Chauvin's knee on her.

The officer had answered a call of a domestic dispute at her home, and Code said he forced her down when she tried to pull away.

"He just stayed on my neck," Code said, ignoring her desperate pleas to get off. Frustrated and upset, she challenged him to press harder. "Then he did. Just to shut me up," she said.

Chauvin... was the subject of at least 22 complaints or internal investigations during his more than 19 years at the department, only one of which resulted in discipline. These new interviews show not only that he may have used excessive force in the past, but that he had used startlingly similar techniques.

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GOP:

Gaslight
Obstruct
Project

That was a perfectly acceptable way of subduing someone. If you are overdosing and have heart issues, you'd be well advised not to tussle with the police. Kind of the same thing if you are afraid of corona - don't go out and hang around people.

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I :heart; Q

It isn't uncommon for someone to fatally OD on fentanyl with a serum level (ng/mL) of 2-4. George Floyd's fentanyl serum level reported in his autopsy report was 11.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” - Barack Obama

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

FTP

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Careful what you wish for, at this rate you might end up with a prog knee on your neck one day.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Well, there certainly are plenty who would like nothing more than to do that. At the moment, however, I am safe. They won't dare do that to a maskless me. They wouldn't come within a 100 feet of me.

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I :heart; Q

Great.

Now do Eric Garner. The guy up on Staten Island who was selling loose cigarettes. He was put into a chokehold, now deemed "praxi interdictum", and died at the hands of Police.

Selling loose cigarettes or allegedly trying to pass a fake $20.

Death sentences.

It's stupid to say that sitting with a knee on someone's neck for ten minutes is good business. It isn't and everyone but the stupid know it.

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I was right.