US court picks first jurors in trial over George Floyd death

Jury selection began on Tuesday in the high-profile trial of a white police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man whose death last year sparked a worldwide outcry against systemic racial discrimination.

Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis Police Department officer, is facing charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with Floyd's May 25 death.

The selection of jurors was scheduled to begin on Monday but was delayed as prosecutors sought to re-instate a third-degree murder charge against Chauvin.

Who are the jurors?

Three jurors were seated on the first day of jury selection. Among them was a woman who appeared to be of mixed race in her 20s or 30s.

"That's the only thing I've ever seen of this person: that video," she said of the 44-year-old Chauvin who was filmed on a bystander's phone pressing his knee against George Floyd's neck as he begged for his life during the arrest.

"It just makes you sad. Nobody wants to see someone die, whether it's his fault or not," the woman, identified as Juror No. 9 said.

She assured Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill that she would be fair and impartial, adding that she was "super excited" to receive the jury summons.

Another potential juror, a white man working as a chemist in an environmental testing laboratory, said he "somewhat disagreed" with the assertion that the Minneapolis police used disproportionate force against Black people.

Identified only as Juror No. 2, he said he supported Black Lives Matter which he understood to mean "all lives matter equally."

The man also said that he had never watched the viral video of Chauvin with his knee on Floyd's neck.

He was selected to be a juror after he told the judge he would be "fair and impartial."

The third and final juror seated on Tuesday was a financial auditor who said he had seen on the news that Floyd had used "hard" drugs and had been convicted of crimes in the past.

However, he added, he would not let that affect his weighing evidence presented at the trial.

"Whether you're under the influence of drugs doesn't determine whether you should be living or dead," the man said.

How significant is the George Floyd killing trial?

A 12-member panel of jurors, selected in a process expected to last about three weeks, will decide Chauvin's fate in a trial expected to begin around March 29.

Three other police officers involved in Floyd's arrest — Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao — are facing lesser charges and will be tried separately.

Chauvin and the other three officers were dismissed from the police force after they were captured on the viral video with Chauvin's knee on the neck of a gasping Floyd for nearly nine minutes.

Chauvin, who was released from jail last October on a $1 million bond, appeared in court on Tuesday along with his lawyer, wearing a light grey suit and a black face mask.

His trial is seen as a landmark case on police brutality against Black people in the United States that led to a wave of protests across the country, laying bare the racial wounds in American society.

What is the police officer's defense?

Lawyers for Chauvin argued that he was following police procedure and claimed that Floyd died overdose of the drug fentanyl.

"Mr. Chauvin acted according to MPD policy, his training, and within his duties," according to his lawyer, Eric Nelson. "He did exactly as he was trained to do."

An autopsy did find traces of opioid fentanyl in Floyd's system, but the medical examiner ruled that the cause of death was a homicide caused partly by police restraint holds.

adi/rt (AFP, Reuters)