typical commute across the span. >> we leave you with the "everafter" cargo ship stuck for days in the suez canal. it is sailing once again. happy ever after. the "today" show is next. have a great morning. breaking overnight, rising tide. a major breakthrough in the suez canal. crews managing to partially re-float that massive cargo ship blocking the waterway for nearly a week, costing billions in global trade. this morning, the lucky break from mother nature, and what it'll take to get the passage fully open again. we're live with the very latest. opening statements. security and tension high for today's start of the derek chauvin trial. the former officer charged in the murder of george floyd. this morning, the national guard

in place, windows boarded up. rallies and vigils for social justice. >> there's no need for people of color to walk around like they are feeling hunted. >> just ahead, our conversation with george floyd's brother on the case that sparked a nationwide reckoning. state of emergency. nashville suffering through its worst flooding disaster in a decade. at least four people killed, hundreds rescued, even more rain on the way. tens of millions bracing for dangerous winds from coast to coast. we have everything you need to know. hot spots. covid cases surging nationwide. new york and new jersey once again with the highest rates of infection in the country, one year after being at the epicenter of the first wave. overnight, a stunning, new admission from a former top member of the trump covid task force, that nearly all of the deaths could have been avoided. >> there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that

original surge. all of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially. >> more from that interview and the new vaccination milestone hit this weekend. those stories, plus, upset specials. alabama forces overtime before ucla pulls off a stunning win. >> the bruins dance into the elite eight. >> on the women's side, texas shocks maryland and advances. >> ahead of the field, lays it in. long horns in front! >> with the first trip to the final four on the line today, monday, march 29th, 2021. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb, from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> hi, everybody. good morning.

welcome to "today." it is good to have you with us on a monday morning. hi. >> look at you. first of all, i'd love to tell everyone where savannah was, but she was on a super secret assignment we're going to reveal a little later. so good to have you back, right where you belong. >> so nice to be here. the 4:00 a.m. wake-up call is like riding a bike. we have a lot to get to. busy monday morning, including today's opening statements at the closely watched trial of the former officer charged with murdering george floyd. there is so much interest and attention on this case. it actually will be the first in the state of minnesota to be broadcast live in its entirety. we have the latest on that straight ahead. plus, we're going to take you to nashville, tennessee, where record rain over the weekend has triggered historic flooding. let's begin with overnight developments on a situation being watched by the entire world. nearly a week after that huge cargo ship became wedged across the suez canal, it has now been partially re-floated. "today" senior international correspondent keir simmons is following it for us.

keir, good morning. >> reporter: hey, savannah. good morning to you. this tory has been developing even while folks on the west coast have been waking up. we do have the latest pictures for you in the last 30 minutes where we have had news that the ever given has now been fully freed. it is now parallel to the banks of the tugs around it to help to pull it free. the president of egypt declaring victory, saying the world can now be assured of its goods as the suez canal is reopened, this lifeline for the world economy. the massive vessel which was stuck for days now afloat again. through the night, there were high hopes at high tide, then celebrations. 14 tugboats managing to finally budge the 200,000 ton container

ship that's as long as the empire state building is tall. nbc's raf sanchez is in egypt. >> here on the ground with the giant ship behind me, it is not hard to see how it got stuck. relief and optimism. >> reporter: the container ship seen from space, blocking traffic on the busy waterway. a closer look at the suez canal shows it is narrower than it looks from above. 80 feet deep at the center. both banks rise to just three feet deep while the vessel is longer than four football fields. even the u.s. had been offering support. >> we have equipment and capacity that most countries don't have, and we're seeing what we help we can be. >> reporter: billions of dollars of products pass through here every day, and every day, the backlog of ships was building. on march 26th, the day the ever given ran aground amid high winds and a sandstorm, the

satellite image shows vessels already backed up in the gulf of suez, and more arriving all the time. now good news for the ship and for the world economy. so much depending on such a narrow canal to be working again. >> it's great news, keir. certainly welcome for all those ships waiting to get moving, but how long will it take for things to even out and get back to normal? zbloert. >> reporter: yeah, it's a great question, savannah. of course now there are 370 of these enormous container ships and cargo ships waiting. there are reports now that they are already moving, keen to get moving as you can imagine, but others have redirected themselves, as people know the geography around the horn of africa, a much longer route. and then they're just scheduling these ports on very tight schedules. you can imagine again the ships are arriving and leaving, it may take months or weeks to get back

to normal. economies have seen the oil price drop by 2% this morning. >> all right, keir simmons thank you very much, appreciate it. another major story, the trial that some say could be a defining moment in our country's racial history. opening statements getting underway this morning in the murder trial of derek chauvin. he's the former officer charged with killing george floyd. the case of course has drawn worldwide attention, and now the trial is set to be broadcast live. in a moment, we will talk with george floyd's brother and their family's attorney, but first, nbc's gabe gutierrez joins us from the courthouse. hey, gabe, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. after weeks of high drama during jury selection that included a highly unusual $27 million civil settlement and intense security around this courthouse, opening statements are now set to begin here today. >> say his name, george floyd! >> reporter: just hours before what the mayor says is the biggest trial in minneapolis's history, a rally and a vigil in

support of george floyd's family. >> this is a similar moment in american history. >> reporter: this morning opening statements are set to begin in the trial of derek chauvin, the former minneapolis poli not guilty to charges of murder and manslaughter, plus a recently added charge of third degree murder. prosecutors say he killed floyd last may by kneeling on his neck for about nine minutes after floyd's death a racial reckoning exploded across the country and around the world. >> the prosecution's best evidence is the videotape that shows chauvin's knee on floyd' neck. the prosecution will make the case that no matter what mr. floyd did, that was excessive force by officer chauvin. >> reporter: but chauvin's defense team is expected to zero in on exactly how floyd died and present evidence that he had a potentially fatal amount of drugs in his system, alleging

that chewed up pills were found inside the back of the police squad car after officers had struggled to get floyd inside. >> they are, in fact, methamphetamine and fentanyl, and they contain the dna of george floyd. >> reporter: with alternates, 15 jurors have been selected including a chemist, a nurse, and a social worker. there are nine women, six men. nine are white, four are black, two multiracial. the oldest is in their 60s, the youngest in their 20s. for floyd's family, the past ten months have been agonizing. >> what do you make of the worldwide attention on this trial? >> i guess god gives me the strength, you know. i wake up every day and i still try to process this. >> reporter: they hope the next few weeks will be life changing. >> we want to get this justice, one way or another, we're going to get this justice. >> reporter: the trial is expected to last two to four weeks, and it will be closely watched around the world. for the first time in the state's history, a minnesota

judge is allowing the entire proceedings to be broadcast live. hoda. >> all right, gabe gutierrez for us in minneapolis. craig's got more on the trial. hey, craig. >> hoda, savannah, good morning to you. joining us now from minneapolis, george floyd's brother, philonice. let me start with you, this is a morning that's been ten months in the making. you lost your brother ten months ago. you bore witness to the protests. you've testified before congress. you've become quite the social justice advocate in your own right. how are you -- how is your family feel ing this morning? >> we're feeling good, craig. we know that this case to us is a slam dunk because we know the video is the proof. that's all you need. the guy was kneeling on my brother's neck for 8 minutes and

46 seconds, a guy who was sworn in to protect. he killed my brother in broad daylight. that was a modern day lynching. we feel good, and we will be there today to sit there and look and see what's going on in the courtroom. >> as you know, philonice, the officer accused is charged with three different crimes, two murders, one manslaughter. does it matter to you or your family which charge he's found guilty of or do you just want him found guilty of anything? >> i really think he should be found -- at least second degree murder. third degree murder, that's just there, but second degree murder, it clearly showed that he killed my brother. my brother was standing up just fine until he put him on the ground with his hands behind his back in the prone position face down and he decided to kill my brother along with the other officers because nobody tried to render aid. and when people tried to, they were stopping people for trying

to stop him for killing george. >> ben, as you know, there have been reports that the bulk of the defense is going to hinge on essentially trying george floyd, the fact that the medical examiner is going to testify that there was fentanyl in his system, methamphetamines in his system, that he had pre-existing health conditions that contributed to his death as well. what do you say to that defense? >> it's the same old play book, craig. they're going to try to assassinate his character. the fact that they found a trace amount of drugs in his system is just a distraction because george floyd was breathing, walking, talking just fine until derek chauvin put his face down with his knee on his neck. the thing that killed george this murder case is not hard.

just look at the video of george floyd. that's what we need to start referring to it as, a torture video. >> as you know, the defense is also going to be allowed to introduce this video from a similar arrest back in 2019, ben, and it's going to show reportedly george floyd being dragged from a car and uttering some of the same things that he uttered in this video. how concerned are you about this new video that's going to be allowed to be introduced to the jurors? >> craig, i want to make it clear, this is not a hard case. everybody keeps trying to say this is a hard, difficult case. if george floyd was a white american citizen, nobody would say this is a hard case. everything they're trying to do is assault his character so they can distract us from what

happened in the video. as philonise said, and we all know what killed george floyd was a knee on his neck while he said i can't breathe 28 times. so america, the whole world is watching. do we really have equality and justice for all? >> philonise, this is a trial that could last at least four weeks. how have you and your siblings readied yourself for what you're going to see and what you're going to have to hear in that courtroom? >> hey, i look forward, me and my family, and i will be there today in court, and this won't be me alone. george will be with me and my lawyer, the savior will be with me, too. this is not a hard case. we just want justice. we want a conviction. if you can't get justice as a black man in america for this,

time, philonise floyd, best of luck to you and your family over the next few weeks. thank you both, gentlemen. a quick programming note, lester holt is going to anchor live coverage of the trial's opening statements on many of these nbc stations. that's scheduled to start around 10:15 eastern. now to the problems still being caused by severe storms that tore through the south. it was a weekend of brutal weather for millions with flooding. the major story in tennessee, heavy rains swamping much of the state leading to at least four depths. a lot of damage and hundreds of rescues. morgan chesky is in nashville for us. the mayor declared a state of emergency there. hi, morgan, good morning. >> reporter: an emergency is absolutely right. the river should be about 100 yards in this direction, but as we pull out on this shot, you can see we're essentially walking right through the middle of it. that was the problem with this

storm system. it dumped so much rain so fast that the water in these rivers and creeks had nowhere to go but up. that for so many people left them trapped in the darkness with these fast moving waters on the rise and no signs of stopping. this morning frightening new video of deadly flood waters in tennessee. in nashville, more than seven inches of rain in 48 hours sent rivers raging swallowing streets, school buses, and catching many off guard. among them a police officer, water sweeping his cruiser right off the road. >> he was able to get out of his car. he was clinging to a tree for safety until he was rescued. >> reporter: fire crews making at least 130 high water rescues, saving people trapped in cars, homes, and apartments. those first responders also pulling 40 pets to safety. the intense rain one of the wettest 24-hour periods in

nashville's history, marking the city's worst flooding since 2010 when 21 people died. the view from above, even more stark. parking lots turned ponds near evacuated neighborhoods. >> the water got up into all the structures, the homes. we have about 50 houses that were affected. >> reporter: hundreds trying to salvage whatever they can.edict neighbor he could find. >> you know, we're just -- we're just cleaning up things that were carried away by the water. it's just an all hands on deck massive cleanup effort. >> reporter: in arkansas, the same storm system spawned not one but two tornados. the national weather service saying damage indicates winds topped 120 miles an hour. and in georgia, the added rain only dampened recovery efforts that tore through the town of newnan. back here in tennessee, the big

question, when will mother nature finally let up? >> it's mostly things that are damaged and ruined, and as long as it's just things, then the community will rally around those people in need and we'll make it right through. >> reporter: lots of help headed this direction, and officials tell us they will be touring the damaged areas today to get a true idea as to how much damage these flood waters leave behind. there is some good news, however, the major creeks and rivers have already crested, but it could be days before these flood waters finally recede. >> what a sight, morgan chesky in nashville for us, thank you very much. >> not something we're used to seeing in nashville. to make matters worse, the south is facing yet another new storm threat. dylan's in for al with the first check of the forecast. wow. >> yeah, i mean, more than seven inches of rain in a very short period of time in nashville. that's why the rivers just swelled up while some have crested, some are continuing process, we are looking at more rain tomorrow afternoon.

so that could slow everything down as far as those rivers re receding the storm system that produced more than 85 reports of wind damage across the northeast yesterday, that is gone, but winds on the back side of it still just as strong, which is why we're seeing some of that lake effect snow out west through the plains, through the midwest, we're also looking at wind gusts up to 65 to 75 miles per hour today it's also going to remain very windy across new england and most of the northeast with winds gusting up to about 45 to 60 miles per hour temperatures on the cooler side, too, so it is going to be just a very blustery day. in the middle of the country, though, temperatures look very nice we should get up into the 70s across parts of the upper midwest. we do have some mountain snow, though, in the pacific northwest. that's a look at the weather across the country we'll get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds ♪ a-hey, a-hey-hey ♪ ♪

♪ love like yours will surely come my way ♪ good monday i'm meteorologist kari hall. sun rising over the south bay and we're starting out on what will be another really nice day. we're headed up to 71 degrees, so it will be a little bit cooler compared to yesterday, as we reach up to 73 in concord, and 73 in ukiah, with san francisco mostly in the mid-60s for today. but then in the forecast a lot of changes ahead. gusty winds through tomorrow, and temperatures ramping up and then a much cooler weekend headed in. and that's your latest forecast, savannah >> thank you, just ahead the

is like reading the back cover of a book, they're just trying to lay out what the rest of the case is going to involve, and here from the prosecution we should hear a concise effective trial theme, something along the lines of what you see is what you get, and they should explain

ho video come to life in the courtroom. >> all right, thanks, let me turn to criminal defense attorney and nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos. what do you think we'll hear from the defense team today? >> the defense's attack here, the first is going to be causation. they're going to argue that derek chauvin did not cause the death, and if they succeed there, that's a defense to all charges, and that -- the center piece of that is going to be that drugs plus poor health caused the death of george floyd and not the maximal restraint technique, the knee on the back of the neck that everybody saw. part two is going to be that the maximal restraint technique, the knee in the neck is not a felony, is not dangerous. it is not even negligent because it's something that is taught to police nationwide. those are the two major prongs we can expect to hear, although be warned, opening statements for the defense will usually be shorter than the prosecution's because the defense does not want to show its hand.

>> all right, danny, thank you. former seattle police chief and nbc news law enforcement analyst carmen best joins us now. carmen, this trial obviously being watched in communities across the country and certainly in police communities. what's at stake here? >> good morning, lester. well, many people will be watching to make sure that justice is served. clearly everyone saw what happened, and while the knee on the neck has been trained in some areas, i personally have not seen a place where they have trained people to hold that knee on the neck for that extended period of time. clearly that's going to be a question that has to be answered as part of this trial goes forward. >> all right, we're seeing on the right side of our screen there, court in session. the judge swearing in the jury right now. while he does that, let's talk about the jury. they're to remain anonymous, so you won't be seeing them on camera during the trial. they're made up of nine women and five men as gabe told us a few minutes ago.

eight identify as white, four as black, and two as mixed race. they range in age from their 20s to 60s. as of now, they are not being sequestered. there's derek chauvin on the right of your screen in the courtroom now as that jury is being sworn in. let me bring in georgetown law professor and former federal prosecutor and nbc news legal analyst, paul butler. paul, often -- i'm sorry, let's go to joyce vance, former u.s. attorney joyce vance is going to join us now. joyce, often in cases involving police we learn that police get a little more latitude when it comes to taking a life than you or i would. does that apply here, though? this wasn't -- this wasn't a shootout. this wasn't, you know, a moment of passion. how will it be viewed? >> it's an interesting problem for prosecutors when they have to put a police officer on trial because there's often a

perceived bias, sometimes among jurors in favor of law enforcement officers, so i've tried these case in the past. i know that even when the evidence is good, they're very difficult to convict on because prosecutors bear the burden of convincing the jury of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and they have to convince every member of the jury, even one unconvinced juror can hang up the jury, which results in not a verdict. it permits the prosecution to try the case a second time, but that's called a hung jury, and that's a result no prosecutor wants to get. so combined with the perceptual issues around having a police officer on trial and this heavy burden of proof, the prosecution has to really focus with the laser beam here on cause of death and convince this jury that it was chauvin's actions that led to george floyd's death, not these other extraneous factors that the defense wants to talk about.

>> all right, joyce, thanks very much. let's talk now about the prosecution team. jerry blackwell is expected to give the opening statement today, but it's minnesota's attorney general keith ellison who was leading the prosecution. he's a former member of congress and the state's first african american attorney general. the governor appointed him to this case amid concerns the county prosecutor did not have the support of the black community. let me bring our next guest now, nbc news legal analyst and former federal prosecutor cynthia alksne. cynthia, what are you seeing here as we begin? what should we be watching out for? >> you know what i'm looking for in my experience in trying excessive force cases, is there any evidence that chauvin lied about what happened? my experience is that as we've been talking about, jurors lean over back wards to give police officers the benefit of the doubt, but if you can find a place where he, for instance, lied to the emt worker who came to the scene or he lied to any of his peers in the police

station that george was somehow resisting when we all know he wasn't, if any of those -- we can prove any of those lies, then that reluctant juror will go ahead and be willing to convict. so i'm looking for whether or not the prosecution has found chauvin's lies as an important element today. >> all right, cynthia, thank you very much. i want to go back to gabe gutierrez. gabe, we knew from the beginning that jury selection was going to be difficult. i think they allowed three weeks for it. what were some of the stumbles -- not stumbles, some of the issues along the way? >> yeah, you're right, lester, took a little less than that, but there were several controversies during jury selection. all the jurors brought in questionnaires, 14 pages, and the defense really took great pains to establish their pains on a range of factors including, for example, if they supported

black lives matter or blue lives matter. how much media they consumed. one of the key portions of this was this $27 million civil settlement that was announced right in the middle of jury selection. the judge worried whether that could potentially affect the proceedings and actually removed two of those jurors during that process. there was also petitions filed by the defense that ultimately the judge decided to go ahead and move forward with it, certainly, lester, a lot of eyes during that jury selection process. now though opening statements set to begin in just a few moments. >> all rights gabe, obviously you've got company there. can you just give us a quick idea of what the scene is around the courthouse? >> well, just a few minutes ago, lester, not far from where i was george floyd's family members actually knelt for about nine minutes, the length of time that chauvin put his knee on his neck.

behind me there is a demonstrator with a blow horn, you know, just putting forward several messages. this is a very emotional time for the minneapolis community, lester, extremely high security here at the courthouse. national guard here has been mobilized. again, this is something that is going to be closely watched by this community really across the world, lester. >> thank you, gabe. let me bring in danny cevallos again. danny, no matter what is said in this trial, what will linger with everyone, and what has lingered with everyone is the tape, the videotape. how will the defense work around that? do they have to stipulate, yes, it is what you saw but then try to explain it? >> lester, the tape we've seen or at least most of us have seen is only the tip of the iceberg. there's a lot of other tape from body worn cameras and from surveillance video that will tell the story for the prosecution not just about the moments when the knee was on the

back of the neck. they will beyond the knee on the neck force was unwarranted and that they needed to do something to help george floyd. so the video will feature centrally i expect the prosecution to use it liberally in their opening statements, and the defense will have to stick to their game plan, which is causation, fentanyl, methamphetamines, and defending the maximal restraint technique as something that is taught, not something that is negligent and below a standard of care. >> we're watching again the judge. he's giving instructions right now to the jury. again, the jury is anonymous. we will not be seeing them. we won't be seeing them on your screen during this trial, but the judge going through these points before these opening remarks get underway. let me go to civil rights lawyer and former prosecutor david henderson. david, it would be very easy for

the prosecution to live in that videotape we were talking about and those body cams, but is there still a burden on them to offer context? >> absolutely. it's a mistake to believe that all you have to do is play that video to win this case, and you have to remember that although this is a terrible tragedy what happened to george floyd, a lot of people have adverse reactions in the opposite direction to seeing that video. you may have one of them on your jury. the prosecutor's job description is to actually make sure that justice is served. you're going to have to play that video. you're going to have to use witnesses who saw what happened to help put this in context for the jury. you also have to begin to sow seeds that will address the arguments that were pointed out earlier that the defense is going to raise. you don't want to create a problem through anticipating problems that have not yet been expressed but you've got to be conscious of the arguments the defense is going to make. >> let's go over those charges again, derek chauvin faces three

charges, the most severe, second degree unintentional murder, which requires the highest burden of proof here. it comes with a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. he also faces charges of third degree murder which could get him 25 years and second degree manslaughter which could lead to ten years. let's go back to former u.s. attorney joyce vance. joyce, the defense fought to get one of those charges thrown out. why was it argued to come in in the first place? >> the defense wanted to throw out the murder three charge. this is what prosecutors refer to as a depraved heart or as they call it in minnesota, a depraved mind charge. it essentially argues that the defendant was so reckless about taking human life that even if he or she lacked the intent to commit murder, that reckless disregard for life is tantamount to having some form of intent, but here's the sticking point.

typically these charges require that that depraved heart exists towards a group of people. for instance, that the defendant shot a firearm into a room full of people and was depraved in that sense, was reckless in that sense. so the defense argued that because chauvin's conduct applied to only one person, the prosecution couldn't bring a murder three charge. the minnesota appeals court said that that was not the case, that it could be applied in a situation like this so the judge reinstated that murder three charge. that's critically important to the prosecution's case here. that's where the evidence and the video that shows chauvin with his knee on george floyd's neck as bystanders are telling him, you know, man, he's not moving. he's in trouble. this is really, i th prosecution will be able to make to the jury for conviction. >> do any of these charges give the jury an off-ramp if you will, if they are stuck in the idea that, well, he's a police officer and maybe, maybe, maybe

do they -- any of these charges allow them to convict him on something lesser in terms of time behind bars. >> so this is definitely a sliding scale, you know, homicide consists of both murder and manslaughter charges, and there can be a tendency among victims and family members to really want the most serious charges to stick. and of course that's what you want as a prosecutor, too, but here even the manslaughter charge is meaningful, and it's important. and as you point out, it does give the jury an opportunity to split the baby a little bit. if they don't want to find the murder two or murder three charge, they could convict on the manslaughter charge, which says that chauvin created a situation that was dangerous to human life, and then he recklessly proceeded to take that life. that's still a very serious charge. if the jury does take that off-ramp, there will be justice for george floyd. >> mr. blackwell, the prosecutor right now is beginning to speak.

let's listen. >> going to learn in this case a lot about what it means to be a public servant and to have the honor of wearing this badge. it's a small badge that carries with it a large responsibility and a large accountability to the public. what does it stand for? it represents the very motto of the minneapolis police department, to protect with courage, to serve with compassion. but it also represents the essence of the minneapolis police department approach to the use of force against its citizens when appropriate. sanctity of life and the protection of the public shall be the corner stones of the minneapolis police department's use of force. compassion, sanctity of life, corner stones and that little

badge is worn right over the office's heart. but you're also going to learn that the officers take an oath when they become police officers. they take an oath that i will enforce the law courteously and appropriately, and as you will learn, as applies to this case, never employing unnecessary force or violence. and not only that, i recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith, and i the ethics of police service. symbol of public faith, ethics to police service, sanctity of life, all of this matters tremendously to this case. because you will learn that on may 25th of 2020, mr. derek

chauvin betrayed his badge when he used excessive and unreasonable force upon the body of mr. george floyd, that he put his knees upon his neck and his back grinding and crushing him until the very breath, no, ladies and gentlemen, until the very life was squeezed out of him. you will learn that he was well aware that mr. floyd was unarmed, that mr. floyd had not threatened anyone, that mr. floyd was in handcuffs. he was completely in the control of the police. he was defenseless. you will learn what happened in that 9 minutes and 29 seconds, the most important numbers you will hear in this trial are 929, what happened in those 9 minutes and 29 seconds when mr. derek

chauvin was applying this excessive force to the body of mr. george floyd. we have two objectives in this trial, ladies and gentlemen. the first objective is to give mr. chauvin a fair trial. mr. chauvin has the presumption of innocence. he is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. we plan to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that mr. chauvin was anything other than innocent on may 25th of 2020. and our second objective, ladies and gentlemen, is to bring you the evidence, which i'm trying to preview this morning. we are bringing this case, this prosecution against mr. chauvin for the excessive force he applied on the body of mr. george floyd for engaging in behavior that was imminently dangerous and the force that he applied without regard for his impact on the life of mr. george floyd.

so let's begin by focusing then on what we will learn about this 9 minutes and 29 seconds, and you will be able to hear mr. floyd saying, please, i can't breathe. please, man, please. in this 9 minutes and 29 seconds, you will see that as mr. floyd is handcuffed there on the ground, he is verbalizing 27 times, you will hear, in the 4 minutes and 45 seconds, i can't breathe. please, i can't breathe. you will see that mr. chauvin is kneeling on mr. floyd's neck and back. he has one knee on his neck and a knee on his back is intermittently off and on his back as you will be able to see for yourself in the video footage. you will hear mr. floyd as he's crying out. you'll hear him at some point cry out for his mother when he's being squeezed there. he's very close to his mother you will learn. you will hear him say tell my kids i love them. you will hear him say about his fear of dying, he says i'll probably die this way.

i'm through. i'm through. they're going to kill me. they're going to kill me, man. you will hear him crying out, and you will hear him cry out in pain. my stomach hurts. my neck hurts. everything hurts. you will hear that for yourself. please, i can't breathe. please, your knee on my neck. you will hear, then you'll see at the same time while he's crying out, mr. chauvin never moves. the knee remains on his neck. sunglasses remain undisturbed on his head, and it just goes on. you will hear his final words when he said i can't breathe. before that time, you will hear his voice get heavier, you will hear his words further apart. you will see that his shallower and finally stops when he speaks his last words i can't breathe.

and once we have his final words you'll see that for roughly 53 seconds he is completely silent and virtually motionless with just sporadic movements. you're going to learn those sporadic movements matter greatly in this case because what they reflect, mr. floyd was no longer breathing when he's making these movements. you will learn about something in this case called an anoxic seizure. it is the body's automatic reflex when breathing has stopped due to oxygen deprivation. we'll be able to point out to you when you'll see the involuntary movements from mr. floyd that are part of an anoxic seizure. not only that, you're going to learn about something that's called agonal breathing when the heart is stopped, when blood is no longer coursing through the veins.

you'll hear the body gas p as an involuntary reflex. we'll point out to you when he's having an involuntary reflex to the oxygen deprivation. so we learn here that mr. floyd at some point is completely passed out. mr. chauvin continues on as he had, knee on the neck, knee on the back. you'll see he does not let up, that he does not get up for the remaining -- as you can see, 3 minutes and 51 seconds. during this period of time, you will learn that mr. chauvin is told that they can't even find a pulse on mr. floyd. you'll learn he's told that twice, they can't even find a pulse. you'll be able to see for yourself what he does in response. you will see that he does not let up, and that he does not get up even when mr. floyd does not even have a pulse, it continues on. it continues on, ladies and gentlemen, even after the ambulance arrives on the scene.

you'll be able to see for yourself what mr. chauvin is doing when the ambulance is there. you can compare. you'll be able to compare how he looks in this photograph to how he looked in the first 4 minutes and 45 seconds. same position, doesn't let up, and you'll see he doesn't get up. the paramedic from the ambulance comes over. you'll be able to see this in the video. he checks mr. floyd for a pulse. he has to check him for a pulse, you'll see with mr. chauvin continuing to remain on his body at the same time. doesn't get up, even when the paramedic comes to check for a pulse and doesn't find one. mr. chauvin doesn't get up. you will see that the paramedics have taken the gurney out of the ambulance, have rolled it over next to the body of mr. floyd and you'll be able to see mr. chauvin still does not let up, doesn't get up. and you will see it wasn't until such time as they start -- they

want to move the lifeless body of george floyd onto the gurney, only then does mr. chauvin let up and get up, and you'll see him drag mr. floyd's body and unceremoniously cast it onto the gurney. and that was for a total of 4 minutes and 44 seconds, you can see here that for the first 4 minutes and 45 seconds, you'll learn that mr. floyd was calling out crying for his life, and ladies and gentlemen, not just mr. floyd. you're going to hear and see that there were any number of bystanders who were there who are also calling out to let up and get up, such that mr. floyd would be able to breathe and to maintain and to sustain his life. but then for the remaining 4 minutes and 44 seconds, mr. floyd was either unconscious, breathless or pulseless and th compression, the squeezing, the grinding went on just the same

for a total of 9 minutes and 29 seconds. you're going to learn in this case quite a lot about the minneapolis police department's use of force policy. what you're going to see and learn a lot about is what is the standard for applying force against individuals, the use of force policy. you'll learn that minneapolis police department employees shall only use the amount of force that is objectively reasonable in light of the factors and circumstances. the force used shall be consistent with current minneapolis police department training. what you'll learn, ladies and gentlemen, is that the use of force must be evaluated from one moment to the next moment, from moment to moment. what may be reasonable in the first minute may not be reasonable in the second minute,

the fourth minute, or the ninth minute and 29 seconds, that it has to be evaluated from moment to moment. you'll also learn that the minneapolis police are precluded, not allowed to use any more force than is necessary to bring a person under their control. they can't use any more restraint than is necessary.whos a los angeles police department sergeant and a use of force expert. he's going to tell you that the force that mr. chauvin was using was lethal force. it was force that was capable of killing a human or putting his or her life in danger. the evidence is going to show you that there was no cause in the first place to use lethal force against a man who was defenseless, who was handcuffed, who was not resisting, that there's no calls to use that force in the first place.

you're going to hear from minneapolis police sergeant david pleiger who's going to come and talk with you. he is going to -- he was the officer on the scene, so he arrived at the scene after this took place. he is going to tell you that the force against mr. floyd should have ended as soon as they put him on the ground in the first place, meaning that the 9:29 should not have been even a 1, much less the 9:29, and that went on for way too long. he will tell you in terms of the restraint on the ground and the manner of the restraint of mr. floyd. you'll also going to learn about another very important policy in the minneapolis police department, that's a core principle of policing. you will hear this phrase that police have to live by in terms of how it is they relate to the public. in your custody is in your care. in your custody is in your care,

meaning that if you as an officer have an individual, a subject that's in your custody, it is your duty to care for that person, and you will learn that caring, ladies and gentlemen, is not feeling. it's a verb. it's something you're supposed to do to provide care for that person. you are going to hear from any number of police officers who will talk about that this duty to provide care, officer nicole mackenzie, who is the minneapolis police department medical support coordinator. you'll hear from sergeant cara yane, the crisis intervention coordinator in your custody is in your care. you are going to learn when mr. floyd was unconscious, that when he was breathless, when he did not have a pulse, that there was a duty to have administered care, to let up and get up you will learn.

you will listen to minneapolis police commander katie blackwell, as she's going to tell you about the training that mr. chauvin received. you're going to hear that he was a veteran on the minneapolis police department for 19 years, had been trained in cpr multiple times at the time. and you'll be able to see for yourself that when mr. floyd was in distress, mr. chauvin wouldn't help him, didn't help him, but you're also going to see that he stopped everybody else from being able to help him. you will learn that amongst the bystanders was a first responder, a member of the minneapolis fire department who was trained in administering first aid and emergency care. she's going to come and talk with you, her name is genevieve hanson. she wanted to check his pulse. she wanted to check on mr. floyd's well-being.

she wanted him to let up and get up. she did her best to intervene to be able to act to intercede on george floyd's behalf, and you'll be able to see for yourself when she approached mr. chauvin on top of george floyd with both of his knees, reached for his mace in his belt and pointed in her direction. so she couldn't help. she'll come and talk with you about that experience. now you're going to learn that in the aftermath of this, that mr. chauvin's last day of employment with the minneapolis police department was on may 26th of 2020. the minneapolis chief of police, chief arradondo, is going to come here to talk with you. he was the police chief at the time. he's the chief today. he is going to tell you that mr. chauvin's conduct was not consistent with minneapolis police department training, was not consistent with minneapolis police department policy, was

not reflective of the minneapolis police department. he will not mince any words. he's very clear. he'll be very decisive that this was excessive force. so ultimately, ladies and gentlemen, what was this all about in the first place? you're going to learn that it was about a counterfeit $20 bill used at a convenience store, that's all. you will not hear any evidence that mr. floyd knew that it was fake or did it on purpose. you will learn from witnesses we will call that the police officers could have written him a ticket and let the courts sort it out. you will learn that even if he did it on purpose, it was a minor offense, a misdemeanor. so in terms of we are bringing, we're going to prove to you that mr. chauvin's conduct was a substantial cause

of mr. floyd's death. we charged him with murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree, and manslaughter for using excessive force against george floyd. you will learn that the use of excessive and renst the citizen assault, and this case we will show you that this was an assault that contributed to taking his life. we're going to show you that putting knees on somebody's neck, mr. floyd's, putting a knee on his back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds was an imminently dangerous activity and he did it without regard for what impact it had on mr. floyd's life. by putting him on the ground, we call that the prone position, on your stomach, facedown, putting him in the prone position handcuffed was an excessive use of force let alone for 9 minutes

and 29 seconds. now, how are we going to prove these charges? we're going to prove it, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost by witness testimony. we're going to bring in some of those bystanders that i've referred to, normal folks that tell you what they saw. they'll tell you why they stopped. they'll tell you why they were concerned. they'll tell you from that witness chair. we'll bring them in here. you're going to hear from any number of police officers responsible for training, responsible for what the officers learn around first aid, coming to the care of others. we'll bring in a number of police officers, including the chief of police but we're also going to bring in various professionals and experts, medical experts, experts in police can you be the. you're going to meet any number of them. you'll have a forensic pathologist, dr. thomas who studies the tissues of the deceased as a forensic pathologist to determine the cause and manner of death.

you're going to hear from a pulmonologist, dr. tobin who's a we're also going to bring in dr. andrew baker, the head of the hennepin county medical center, who will tell you about what he found. we'll also bring him in. we'll also bring in experts who will prove that the use of force here was not reasonable. i mentioned earlier jody stiiger, chief of staff for the inspector general l.a. police department, and seth stouton, you will hear from both of them. now, spend a few minutes talking to you about what this case is about. there are any number of things this case is not about.

maybe an infinite number of things this case is not about. one of them is this case is not about all police or all policing. you will learn from chief arradondo when he comes that police officers have difficult jobs. they have to make split second decisions. they sometimes have to make split second life and death in this trial, you're going to meet any number of the men and women from the minneapolis police department who do a fantastic job. they're committed, take very seriously preserving the sanctity of life. i mentioned already commander katie blackwell, officer nicole mackenzie to name a few. this case is about mr. derek chauvin and not about any of those men and women and it's not about all policing at all. and this case is not about split second decision-making, in 9 minutes and 29 seconds, there are 479 seconds, not a split second among them. that's what this case is about.

you are going to hear from one of the bystanders, charles o yo the excessive force that he saw mr. chauvin displaying on may 25th, and he will tell you what he experienced in the way that mr. chauvin looked at him and the other bystanders who were calling out for mr. floyd's life. he will tell you what he saw in terms of mr. chauvin never letting up and getting up on his body. you will be able to observe mr. chauvin's body language for yourself in the video and determine what that language says to you. so i'm going to show you in a moment one of the videos had videos that you're going to see in this trial, just to kind of tee up for you what will be the essence of what we will be focused on in the trial.

i need to tell you ahead of time that the video is graphic, that it can be difficult to watch. it is essential to the nature of what we're dealing with in this trial, ladies and gentlemen. you're going to see any number of videos from the police officers who had body-worn cameras on, but you're also going to see videos from the bystanders, normal folks, the bystanders. you're going to see these bystanders, a veritable bouquet of humanity, these bystanders. you'll see here a little girl who's wearing a green shirt on the right with the words "love" on the green shirt. i won't say her name now because she's a minor, but she is going to come and talk with you about what she saw. next to her in the blue pants is her cousin, who at the time was also a minor, so i won't tell you her name, but she's also

going to come and talk to you. younger one to cub foods to be happening with mr. chauvin and mr. floyd on the ground. next to the young woman in the blue pants is genevieve hanson, the first responder who tried to intervene to check his pulse and to check on mr. floyd. she is going to come and testify to you. next to her is a young man named donald williams, trained with a security background. he's also trained in mixed martial arts, who was very excited and alarmed about what he saw in the exchange between mr. chauvin on top of george floyd. he's going to come in and testify to you, so any number of these bystanders others also will be coming in to talk with you. and so they come from the broad spectrum of humanity, different races, different genders. you have older people, younger people, but you will see that what they all had in common as

they were going about their business is that they saw something that was shocking to them, that was disturbing to them and it made them stop and take note, stop and take note. they tried to first, you will learn when you meet them to intercede on what was happening with their voices. they tried to interject, to exhort, to try to get into what we call good trouble just with their voices because something there was concerning to them, and when that didn't work, you can see any number of them pulled out their cameras to document what was happening such that it would be memorialized, such that it would in the be misrepresented, such that it could not be forgotten. what we'll see this morning will be the footage taken from one of these bystanders in just a mo moment.

to these bystanders that none of they didn't know his history. they didn't know anything about him. all they knew is they came upon an individual that they saw was in some serious distress under the knees of mr. chauvin and it alarmed them. let me show you what the scene looks like just briefly. here in minneapolis, this takes place at the intersection of chicago avenue and 38th street at cup foods. if you can see the image of a squad car on chicago avenue, that is ultimately where mr. floyd was being restrained on the ground under the knees of mr. chauvin. we will spend quite a bit more time with this during the trial, but just for now i wanted to try and set the stage for what you're going to see. so with that, i'm going to show you the video evidence. the video evidence, i think, will be very helpful and meaningful to you because you

can see it for yourself, without lawyer talk, lawyer spin, lawyer anything. you can see it for yourself. i can't breathe. >> he's got his knees on the ground. he's crying. >> please, please, i can't breathe. please, man. please somebody. >> i can't breathe. >> you got him down, man, let him breathe, at least, man. i've been trying to help out.

let him breathe, man. >> i can't breathe. >> what do you want? >> i can't breathe. please, i can't breathe. >> get up and get in the car, man. >> i will. >> get up and get in the car. >> i can't breathe. just get up and get in the car. get up and get in the car right. >> i can't. >> get in, you can't win. >> i know, but you didn't listen. >> my stomach hurts. my neck hurts. everything hurts. just water or something, please. please.

i can't breathe, officer. >> get off him. >> his nose is bleeding, like come on now. look at his nose. >> your knee in his neck. you get your feet right on his neck, officer. >> i cannot breathe. >> tough guy, huh? be a tough guy. not even resisting arrest. he ain't doing nothing. >> put him in the car. >> how long you all got to hold him down. >> we tried that for ten minutes. >> you all know that.

jujitsu move, bro. you don't think that what it is? you don't see nobody understands that right there, bro. that's some bullshit, bro. >> i can't breathe. >> he's talking. bro, you can get him off the ground. you're being a bum right now, you can get him off the ground. you're being a bum right now. >> he enjoying that right now, bro. you could have put him in the car by now, bro. he's not resisting arrest or nothing. >> you're enjoying it, look at you. your body language, you bum. >> you already know that, bro, these dumb as dudes at the academy, bro. you know that's bogus. you can't even look at me like a man because you're a bum, bro,

he's not even resisting arrest right now, bro. >> his nose is bleeding. >> he's passed out. >> you think that's cool? you think that's cool, though, right? man, what's your badge number, bro. you think that's cool right now, bro? >> call the police on another police. >> you think that's cool, bro. you're a bum, bro. you're a bum for that, bro. you get mad. you're sitting there stopping his breathing right now. >> what the -- >> get off of him now. >> what is wrong with you all? >> he cannot breathe! >> look at him! >> he's not responding right now. he's not responsive right now.

he's not responsive right now bro. no, bro, look at him. he's not responsive right now, bro. >> check for a pulse, check for a pulse. >> let me see a pulse. >> is he breathing right now? >> check his pulse, check his pulse, check his pulse, pal, pal, check his pulse bro. bro, check his pulse. you bogus, bro. don't do drugs bro, what is that? >> get back -- >> you call what you doing -- you call what he's doing okay? >> bro -- >> you think that's okay? check his pulse. >> check it right now. >> the man ain't moved yet, bro. the man ain't moved yet, bro. >> bro, you're a bum, bro. you are definitely a bum, bro. >> tell me what his pulse is right now.

>> bro he has not moved not once. go back in the store, bro. okay, that's cool. go back in the store, bro. >> i'm trying to help you all out. >> you don't need to help me out. i know your parents, i know everybody that runs the store, you don't need -- ain't moving right now, bro. >> i just saw that, man. >> he was just moving when i walked up here. >> i know, they did that to him. they did that to him. >> get back out here, bro. >> i've been watching it the whole time. >> did they kill him, bro? did they just kill him?87, you'. the first thing you want to grab >> three minutes. >> get off him, what are you doing? three minutes bro. he's not moving. he's not moving.

get off of his neck, bro. get off of his neck. >> are you serious? bro, are you serious? you're going to keep -- you're going to keep your hands on his neck? don't touch me like that, dude, i swear i'll -- >> i didn't want to call the ambulance. >> bro -- >> you're going to let him keep his hand on his neck, bro, you going to let him kill that man in front of you, bro? huh? >> he's not even moving right now. >> not going to help us, bro? >> he's black, they don't care. they don't care, bro. >> you sit there with your knee on his neck, you're a real man for that, bro. he in handcuffs. a real man. >> listen, i'm a first responder from minneapolis.

the fact that you guys aren't checking his pulse, you guys are on -- >> oh, my god. like come on now. >> can i have your nametag? >> that's not very professional. >> it don't matter. >> freedom of speech. >> don't touch me. >> i got this all on camera, watch out. >> don't touch me. >> you touched him. you went to him. >> he's damn near dead. he's dead, bro. >> you can't do that. 9:29, the three most important numbers in the case, 9 minutes and 29 seconds is how long that went on for half of that time,

mr. floyd was unconscious, breathless, pulseless. you will see in the videos, ladies and gentlemen, that mr. floyd from time to time was heaving up his right shoulder. there's a reason for that. mr. chauvin was on his left side, his back and his neck. he can't move. he's got his hands behind his back. he's heaving up the right shoulder so he can get room for his rib cage to expand to breathe because at this point you will learn he's pancaked with the hard pavement beneath him and mr. chauvin on top of him. in order to breathe, you have to have room for the lungs to expand in and out, and you'll see mr. floyd doing his best to kind of crank his right shoulder up having to lift up his weight and mr. chauvin's weight on top of him to get a breath for as long as he could get a breath, and you will see and hear more about that during the trial. you will learn that a member of the -- a number of the bystanders there called the

police on the police, genevieve hanson, the first responder called the police on the police. you'll learn that donald williams, the young man who's very vocal, security background mixed martial arts background, saw the pressure that was put on the neck, he called the police on the police. but not only that, you're going to learn that there was a 911 dispatcher. her name is jenna scurry. jenna scurry is going to come and talk to you also. there was a fixed police camera that was trained on this particular scene, and she could see through the camera what was going on. you will learn that what she saw was so unusual and for her so undisturbing -- i'm sorry, so disturbing that she did something she had never done in her career, she called the police on the police, a 911 dispatcher. she called sergeant david plinger who's going to come in and testify. she called him to report what she saw because she found it

just that disturbing. she will tell you that she felt that she saw a man literally lose his life, and you will hear her testify. now, i want to talk to you a little bit about intent. that is what our evidence is going to be on the issue of intent. as i mentioned we're going to show you that the use of force here was excessive and unreasonable. we're going to show you that it was not accidental in terms of what was happening there at the scene, that what mr. chauvin was doing, he was doing deliberately. now, when we bring you the evidence of intent, it's not going to come in like a sandwich board that has a front side and a back side. the front side says this is evident intent and the back side said, yeah, you saw it. we will bring it to you through the totality of all the evidence.

you will hear from nicole mackenzie, the medical support coordinator for the minneapolis police department. she will tell you that the dangers of the prone position, putting people face down on the ground have been known about in policing for over 30 years, and they train officers on it. she will tell you that arrestees, citizens who are under arrest should never be put in the prone position except only momentarily to get them under police custody or control to get handcuffs on them but never left in that position. you will learn that mr. floyd was in handcuffs already, so they didn't need to put him on the ground to get him into -- to get him under police control, and she will tell you that the reason that you don't put persons or leave them in the prone position that way, let on top of him, let alone for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, the reason you don't do that is because of the potential to obstruct the airways. you are also going to hear from

lieutenant johnny mercel, the minneapolis police department use of force training coordinator. he's going to tell you about what training mr. chauvin had received, but he's also going to tell you that he knows of no training that that would suggest that kneeling on somebody's neck as mr. chauvin was doing was proper according to minneapolis police department training. you will learn that officers are trained to avoid putting pressure on areas that are above the areas of the shoulder, on the spinal column, on the neck, on the head, and that to do that is using deadly force because if those areas, you run the risk of seriously injuring the peoeopler potentially even killing them, it can be deadly force, and so they're trained not to do that. but above all, you know, they -- the police are trained in the side recovery position, that if you have to put somebody in the

prone position to get them under control, you turn them over on their side as soon as possible so you don't obstruct their airways by having them on their stomach where the lungs can expand in their chest. you put them on their side recovery position right away, and you will hear all about the importance of that. and we'll obviously bring you the evidence of all of the warnings that mr. chauvin would have received, not just from george floyd himself, from the calls and crying out by the bystanders, from the approach of the ambulance, from the paramedics is and so on, all of whom did their part to encourage them to let up and to get up. you'll be able it to consider that, too, under the umbrella of intent. now, i want to talk with you a second about the evidence on causation, the medical causation in terms of what was happening

to mr. floyd while he was there on the ground, and if i had to give this part of the evidence, you're going to see a name, i would tell you that you can believe your eyes, that it's a homicide. it's murder. you can believe your eyes. and here's what you'll be able it to see for yourself. you'll be able to see every part of what mr. floyd went through from him first crying out, from his effort to move his shoulder to get his breathing, get room to breathe. you'll be able to hear his voice get deeper and heavier, his words further apart, his respirations more shallow. you'll see him when he goes unconscious and you'll be able to see the uncontrollable shaking he's doing when he's not breathing anymore, the anoxic seizures, from oxygen deprivation. you'll be able to see when he's going through agonal breathing, the involuntary gasping of the body once the heart has stopped from oxygen deficiency, and you will hear and are well aware when there was a loss of pulse.

you'll hear from a number of experts on the stand that putting a man in the prone position with handcuffs behind his back, somebody on his neck and back pressing down on him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds is enough to take a life. you will hear that also. you're also going to hear from other experts who will point to the significant evidence of the excessive force that was put on mr. floyd's body. you'll be able to see, ladies and gentlemen, the road rash on the shoulders from where he's been pressed into the pavement from the weight on top, the stripped off layers of the skin. the same with the knuckles on his hand when he's pressing up trying to get room to breathe, the damage to his nose when he pressed his face into the pavement to try to get room to breathe. ladies and gentlemen, you will learn that the last 9 minutes and 29 seconds of mr. floyd's life, he was only alive for part of that, that period of time,

but it matches the patterns of somebody who dies from an oxygen deficiency. we'll be able to point to the video evidence, you'll be able to see for yourself. you're also going to hear and see certain evidence of what this was not. this was, for example, not a fatal heart event. this was not, for example, a heart attack. you will learn that there was no demonstrated injury whatsoever to mr. floyd's heart as in a heart attack. you'll hear evidence that mr. floyd had an artery in his heart that was partially clogged. you will learn that there was no damage to mr. floyd's heart from an inadequate blood supply to his heart, that there was no clotting in his heart. you will learn that the medical examiner, when he was examining mr. floyd's heart after he had

died saw no evidence of heart injury, and it was so unremarkable he didn't even photograph the heart. you will learn that this was not what's called a fatal arrhythmia, that the heartbeats rhythmically and occasionally then the heart gets out of rhythm. and out of rhythm the heart just may stop and in the case of a fatal arrhythmia, you're going to learn when a person suffers that, they stop and they drop right there where they are. instant death. you'll be able to see for yourself, that mr. floyd did not die an instant death. he died one breath at a time over an ex that one dies from a fatal arrhythmia. it's instant death, and this was not an instant death. you will also learn, ladies and gentlemen, that george floyd struggled with an opioid addiction. he struggled with it for years. you will learn that he did not die from a drug overdose.

he did not die from an opioid overdose. why? because you'll be able to look at the video footage and see he looks absolutely nothing like a person who would die from an opioid overdose. you will learn that opioids are tranquilizers and when a person dies from an opioid overdose, what do they look like? first and foremost, asleep, in a stupor, and they never come to again, and they simply pass away. opioid overdose. they're not screaming for their lives. they're not calling on their mothers. they are not begging please, please, i can't breathe. that's not what an opioid overdose looks like. now, you will learn that mr. floyd had 11 nano grams of fentanyl in his system when he died, and they said that's a fatal amount. what you have to learn is something about tolerance. so for a person who ha fentanyl, that may be lethal for them, but for others who have

been struggling with it for years, they may have a different tolerance level. you will learn, for example, that 11 nanograms of fentanyl is in the range that you will find in people who might receive opioids for cancer pain, for example. mr. floyd had lived with this opioid addiction for years, and you can see on the video his behavior is not consistent with somebody who dies of an opioid addiction. he doesn't go into slumber, he was not nonresponsive. he was calling out for his life. he was struggling. he was not passing out. you're also going to hear from a forensic pathologist, dr. lindsey thomas, and what she does as a forensic pathologist, she studies body tissues on autopsy to try to determine the cause and manner of death. she did this over her 35-year career as a forensic pathologist. over that period of time, she had done medical examiner forensic pathology work in some

37 minnesota counties of the 87 we have, seven counties in wisconsin, she had done over 5,000 autopsies and determined cause and origin or manner and cause of death in thousands of others. she's semiretired now, and works as a consultant, still in the field of pathology. she was one of the persons who helped to train the current hennepin county medical examiner, dr. andrew baker, when he was just getting started out in forensic pathology. now, here's where dr. baker and dr. thomas agree as to the manner of mr. floyd's death, and i will show you the findings from dr. baker. when they list manner of death for george floyd, homicide. now, i want to explain to you that when he uses homicide, it's not the way that we use it here in the courtroom. when the medical examiner says

homicide, it simply means that the person died at the hands of another is what that means. and i will show you what list that's chosen from in just a minute, and dr. thomas will come in and testify about that, but it means he died at the hands of another. but you'll also learn that he listed a cause of death, cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement sub dual restraint and neck compression. now, i'm going to translate that into english and you'll hear that from dr. thomas, cause of death, cardiopulmonary arrest. what you're going to learn is that every human being who's ever been on planet has two things in common with every other human being. one is that they're born, number two is that they die of cardiopulmonary arrest. all that means is that the heart stops and the lungs stop. it's simply another way of saying death. so cause of death, death.

complicating that is involving law enforcement subdual, subduing george floyd, restraining him and compressing his neck under cause of death. decedent, george floyd experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officers. now, in terms of the manners of death, where you see here it says homicide. here would be the standard list of the choices that the medical examiners will look to in determining what the manner of death was. how the injury of disease leads to death as manner of death, and this dr. thomas will talk to you about this. five manners of death, natural. natural causes. a heart attack is a natural death you will learn. a fatal arrhythmia is a natural cause of death, you will learn. accident, a drug overdose is an

example of an accidental death. car accident can be an accidental death. suicide, homicide, which is one they chose, death at the hands of another or undetermined, that if you can't tel you'll learn t dr. andrew baker and dr. tho manners of death, it wasn't natural, not accidental, not suicide, not undetermined. it was homicide. death at the hands of another. but that's not all that dr. thomas is going to tell you. she's going to tell you something about the limitations of pathology, that is looking at the tissues of persons after they have been deceased in trying to determine whether somebody died as a result of oxygen deficiency. they're limitations because in over half the cases where somebody dies from insufficient oxygen -- and when you know they died from insufficient oxygen --

there are no signs in the body tissues. she would give you the example, for example, somebody who's smothered by a pillow and they die that way. she said you may see nothing in the body tissues, but you know they died from oxygen deficiency because you know how they died. and here in this case, you will hear that an autopsy, they didn't see any objective things in george floyd's tissues, but she says we have to look at all the evidence, and we can see what happened at the scene, and we can see moment by moment that he had all the telltale signs of a person who's struggling and suffering from not receiving sufficient oxygen. she will say you have to look at all the evidence and we'll show you that objective evidence as we go through. so finally, i want to talk to you about some of the evidence that you will hear, some of the facts that the -- excessive use of force, you will hear about them, we will tell you about them. for example, you will hear that george floyd was a big guy.

he was over six feet tall, police conduct witness we bring to to you on the stand, every use of force expert will tell you that his size is no excuse for any police abuse. you're going to hear, obviously, that he struggled with drug addiction, that he had high blood pressure. they'll talk about heart disease, and we will tell you about that heart disease that he had. what you will learn is that george floyd lived for years day in and day out every day with all of these conditions until the one day on may 25th when he ended the 9 minutes and 29 went into the circle of 9 minutes and 29 seconds is the happened in the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. you will hear what happened earlier on the day on may 25th. you will be able to see how the

police approached them in his vehicle over this fake $20 bill. you will be able to see how when they approached his car and came to his window, within seconds they had pulled out his gun, were pointing it at his head and we're using language. you will be able to see them get him out of his car, put him in handcuffs, you'll see them pat him down so they know he doesn't have any weapons. and not only that, you'll be able to hear george floyd when he approaches the squad car saying he is terrified to be put into that squad car. you'll hear him say i think i'm going to die if they put me in put in that squad he says he was claustrophobic. then he asked let me count my way into the squad car. he starts trying to count one, two, they man handle him, shove him into the car with the handcuffs on, and you'll see how

he freaks out from that. you hear him saying i can't breathe in the back of the squad car, and we will show you in the back of the squad car when mr. chauvin at one point had his hands around mr. floyd's neck in the squad car and another, his arm and elbow around his neck with mr. floyd's head here when they pull him out of the squad car, putting him on the ground in the prone position is when the 9 minutes and 29 seconds beginnings. you're also going to learn ladies and gentlemen, at the time they put mr. floyd on the ground that way, there were five grown men armed police officers who were on the scene over a fake $20 bill. there were five of them there. mr. chauvin and his partner, the two officers who were showing up there earlier in the first place before mr. chauvin was there and a member of the park police. there were five there. for a man who didn't threaten anybody, you will see committed no act of violence in any way, who didn't try to run away, and who was put in the prone position this way with five

grown men armed police officers present. none of that, ladies and gentlemen, we submit you will find to be an excuse for what happened in the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. we're also going to want you to learn something about george floyd. his family members call him perry because he was not simply just an object of the excessive use of force of police. he was a real person, and i want you to learn something about him. at the time that he was killed, he was 46 years old. he was a father, a brother, a cousin, a friend to many. he was originally from houston, texas, even before houston he was from my original home state, north carolina. fayetteville, north carolina, before houston is where his family's from. he excelled in basketball and football, loved shooting hoops, even to the end.ta from texas

for a fresh start and the rest of this you'll learn about him, his work as a security guard, that he lost his job when covid hit. he was a covid survivor, george floyd was and he lost his job with his employer, was forced to close given covid. but the point of all of this is we want you to know something about who george floyd was as a person, because he was somebody to a lot of other bodies in the world. so ladies and gentlemen, i'm going to sit down in a moment this morning. we're going to show you through excuse for the police abuse of mr. chauvin. we're going to ask at the end of this case that you find mr. chauvin guilty for his excessive

use of force against george floyd that was an assault, that contributed to taking his life and for engaging in imminently dangerous behavior, putting the knee on the neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds without regard for mr. george floyd's life. we're going to ask you find him guilty for murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and second degree manslaughter. thank you. >> mr. nelson, do you wish to open at this time? >> yes, sir. >> you may. . >> may it please the court, council, mr. chauvin, members of the jury. a reasonable doubt is a doubt that is based upon reason and common sense. at the end of this case, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about doubt, but for purposes of my remarks this

morning, i want to talk about the course of this trial. reason is an idea that wholly permeates our law, our legal system and it forms the foundation, and you will see and hear that repeatedly throughout the course of this trial. what would a reasonable police officer do? what is a reasonable use of force? what would a reasonable person do in his or her most important affairs? what is a reasonable doubt? as such, reason dictates and necessitates how the evidence must be looked at and analyzed in every single case, and common sense is exactly that. it's common sense. common sense tells you that there are always two sides to a story. common sense tells us that we need to examine the totality of the circumstances to determine

the meaning of evidence and how it can be applied to the questions of reasonableness, of actions and reactions. in other words, common sense is the application of sound judgment based upon a reason analysis. and that's what this case is ultimately ability. it's about the evidence in this case. the evidence that you will see in this case during this trial. it is, i agree with counsel for the state, it is nothing more than that. there is no political or social cause in this courtroom. but the evidence is far greater than 9 minutes and 29 seconds. in this case, you will learn that the evidence has been collected broadly and expansively. minnesota bureau of criminal nt

technicians to investigate this case.federal bureau of investigation included at least 28 additional agents and their investigation. these agents combined have engaged in an extensive and far-reaching investigation. they had interviewed over 50 members of the minneapolis police department including the officers who responded to the scene after mr. floyd was brought to the hospital. they interviewed members of the minneapolis police department command staff. they interviewed officers who oversee training and policy making decisions within the minneapolis police department. they have interviewed nearly 200 civilian witnesses in this case. some of these witnesses saw the entire incident. some who saw a portion of the incident, many who saw nothing,

and some who had some piece of information to give to the officers, and others who had nothing. these agents interviewed the numerous medical personnel who interviewed -- or excuse me, who attended to mr. floyd, and they interviewed the numerous firefighters and paramedics who responded. agents executed approximately a dozen search warrants in this case to gather information, and in the end, you will hear a term throughout i believe this case, called the bates stamp number. the bates stamp system is a way for lawyers to keep track of the case, to make sure that we are working from the same set of documents, the same set of evidence to preserve the integrity of the investigation. you will learn that we are approaching 50,000 bate stamped items. so this case is clearly more than about 9 minutes and 29

seconds. as you all saw during jury selection, the witness list in this case neared 400 people. so how do we begin to analyze and organize this evidence? i suggest that you let common sense and reason guide you. i propose that every witness you will hear from and every piece of evidence that you will see or hear during this trial can be assigned to one of four basic locations. cup foods, the mercedes benz, squad 320, and hennepin county medical center. let's start at the first, cup foods. you will learn that on may 5th -- excuse me, may 25th, 2020, shortly after 7:00 p.m., mr. floyd and his friend maurice hall entered the cup foods located at 38th and chicago. while they were there, they ran

into their other friend or mr. floyd's ex-girlfriend shawanda hill, and he offered her a ride. you will hear from chris martin who is the store clerk at cup foods. mr. martin observed mr. floyd. he watched his body language, he interacted with mr. floyd in this moment, and mr. martin formed the opinion that mr. floyd was under the influence of something. you will see the actual video from inside cup foods. mr. floyd did use a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase a pack of cigarettes. mr. martin realized this and first, along with another one of his co-workers named neville walter went outside to the car where mr. floyd, mr. hall, and ms. hill were sitting. mr. martin asked mr. floyd to come in and either buy the cigarettes, exchange, or return the cigarettes, and you will

hear where mr. martin and mr. hall and mr. floyd refused. you will hear that a short time later, mr. martin went back to the car a second time, went back to ask them again, please come inside, give us the money or return the cigarettes, and that second time, again, mr. floyd refused. so at 8:01 p.m., a second clerk from the cup foods named omar camaro, called 911 to report mr. floyd. during that call mr. camaro, you will hear, described mr. floyd as drunk and that he could not control himself. he's not acting right. he's 6 to 6 1/2 feet tall. accordingly, minneapolis police officers thomas lane and alexander king were dispatched to the scene and arrived at 8:08 p.m.

they were driving minneapolis squad car 320, and they faced parking southbound in the northbound lane of chicago avenue and were directed by store employees immediately to the second location, the mercedes benz. during this trial, you will hear evidence of what happened in the mercedes benz in the 20 to 30 minutes prior the police arriving. you will hear from mr. floyd's friends, shawanda hill and maurice hall. this will include evidence that while they were in the car mr. floyd consumed what were thought to be two percocet pills. mr. floyd's friends will explain that mr. floyd fell asleep in the car and that they couldn't wake him up, that they kept trying to wake him up to get going, that they thought the police might be coming because now the store was coming out, and they kept trying to wake him up, and in fact, one of these

friends called her daughter, ms. hill, shawanda called her daughter to come and pick her up because they couldn't keep mr. floyd awake. at 8:09 p.m., officers lane and king approached the vehicle, and officer lane approached the driver side of the vehicle, and officer king approached the passenger side. during the course of this trial, you will see and hear the body-worn cameras of these officers that fully capture the entire interaction with mr. floyd and his friends. you will see officer lane draw his service weapon after mr. floyd failed several times to respond to his commands to show him his hands. you will learn that that is an acceptable police practice. you will see the officers struggle with mr. floyd to get him out of the mercedes benz and

handcuffed, and you will see and hear everything that these officers and mr. floyd say to each other. the evidence will show that when confronted by police mr. floyd put drugs in his mouth in an effort to conceal them from the police. at approximately 8:10 p.m., officer peter chang of the minneapolis park police responds. he responds to the scene to assist officer king and lane, and he helps in detaining the passengers. you will see officer chang's body-worn camera, and you will this becomes important as we learn about police practices because what you will learn is that when an officer responds to what is sometimes a routine and minimal event, it often evolves into a greater and more serious

event. you will see surveillance videos near squad 320 from a local business called the dragon walk that capture the actions and reactions of everyone present at that location including evidence of further concealment of controlled substances. during the course of the investigation, two search warrants were executed on the mercedes benz. the first on may 27th of 2020, the second several months later on december 9th of 2020. bca agents located various pieces of evidence during both of these searches including two pills. that later analysis by the bca revealed to be a mixture of methamphetamine and fentanyl. this is what's called a speedball. a mixture of an opiate and a stimulant. you will learn that these pills

were manufactured to have the appearance of percocet. while standing next to the mercedes benz, officer king and officer lane both asked mr. floyd what he was on. and he says he is on -- office king and lane escorted mr. floyd to the third location minneapolis squad 320. the evidence will show that as officers king and lane escorted mr. floyd to their squad car, charles mcmillan walked alongside them, kind of joined them, and he was encouraging mr. floyd to cooperate with the officers. get in the car, you can't win. the evidence will show that mr. floyd and the officers began to struggle as they attempted to get him in the squad car. and you will learn that officers

derek chauvin and his partner arrived to assist officers king and lane at 8:16 and 48 seconds, almost 8:17. upon their arrival, the first thing that officer chauvin sees is officers king and lane struggling with mr. floyd. mr. chauvin asked the officers is he under arrest? yes. and then officer chauvin began to assist them in their efforts to get him into the squad car. you will see that three minneapolis police officers could not overcome the strength of mr. floyd. mr. chauvin stands 5'9", 140 pounds. mr. floyd is 6'3", weighs 223 pounds. you will learn that because of this intersection at 38th and chicago is considered a high crime area, the city installs

what's called the milestone video system. it's a camera that sits high atop a pole and can surveil the entire intersection. when you see these videos pulled back from afar, you will be able to see the minneapolis police squad car rocking back and forth, rocking back and forth during the struggle. so much so that it catches the attention of the 911 dispatcher jenna scurry. this was not an easy struggle. as the struggle continues, you will see and hear both what mr. floyd was saying to the officers and the officers responses to him. mr. floyd does end up on the street and appeared to continue to struggle to these officers, so much so that they considered applying what's called the maximal restraint technique. it used to be called the hobble or the hog tie.

mr. chauvin used his knee to pin mr. floyd's left shoulder blade and back to the ground and his right knee to pin mr. floyd's left arm to the ground. officer king was placed below mr. floyd's buttocks, and officer lane was at the feet, and you will see and hear them continue to struggle with mr. floyd as he's attempting to kick. you will see and hear that a crowd begins to develop watching and recording officers, initially fairly passive. as the situation went on, the crowd began to grow angry. but here's what you will also see and hear, you will see and hear the conversation between the officers behind the squad car, the crowd is not aware of what they are saying and doing. you will learn that several bystanders including donald williams and genevieve hanson,

they grew more and more and more upset with these officers. you've seen it this morning. but you will also see it from the perspective of the police officers. as the crowd grew in size, seemingly so too did their anger. and remember, there's more to the scene than just the officer -- what the officers see in front of them. there are people behind them. there are people across the street. there are cars stopping, people yelling. there are -- there is a growing crowd and what officers perceive

to be a threat. questions emerge about the reasonableness of the use of force. this will ultimately become one of the distinctions you have to make. to answer these questions the bureau of criminal apprehension, the evidence will show that the bureau of criminal apprehension investigated the minneapolis police department's training and policies. you will learn about things such as the authorized use of force proportionality of force, excited delirium, defensive tactics including prone handcuffing, neck restraints, maximal restraint technique, the swarm technique. you will learn about rapidly evolving situations and the minneapolis police department's decision-making model. you will learn about crowd control, medical intervention, deescalation, procedural justice, crisis intervention and

the human factors of force, that is what happens to a police officer or any person when they are involved in a high stress use of force situation. and you will learn that derek chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19-year career. the use of force is not attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing. the evidence will, again, demonstrate that the minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension conducted two searches of squad 320. you will learn that in the second search of squad 320, agents recovered several pieces of partially dissolved pills. you will learn that these pills were, again, analyzed, were again shown to be consistent or similar to the pills found in the mercedes benz and that they contained methamphetamine and traces of fentanyl. moreover, these pills contained

the dna and saliva of george floyd, which leads us to our final -- our final location, hennepin county medical center. the evidence will show that officers made two calls for emergency help, those calls were within 1 minute and 30 seconds of each oh. the first call officers called for paramedics to arrive code 2 because mr. floyd had a nose injury. he was bleeding from the nose. that occurred during the struggle, mr. floyd banged his face into the plexiglass partition of the squad car. you will see the blood evidence in the squad car. that first call came at 8:00, 20 minutes and 11 seconds. the second call is what's called a stepped up call or a code

three call, meaning get here as that call was made and placed at 8:00, 21 minutes and 35 seconds. you will learn that paramedics arrived on scene at 8:27:18, just 19 minutes after officers king and lane arrived, within six minutes of it being called a code three and they did what they refer to as a load and go because of the crowd. they came, they picked up mr. -- rather than attempting to resuscitate him or treat him on the scene, they loaded him into the ambulance, and they drove to a location several blocks away to begin their resuss tative efforts, and you will hear and learn that officer thomas lane accompanied them for part of that time. you will learn ultimately that mr. floyd was transferred to the emergency department another hennepin county where efforts to

save mr. floyd were made at the direction of dr. bradford longenfelt. again, he took important tests, he ran blood samples and blood gas samples. he took certain very important -- obtained very important pieces of information, and you will learn that later that evening mr. floyd was pronounced dead. the evidence will show then that dr. andrew baker of the hennepin county medical examiner's office conducted the only autopsy of mr. floyd, and you will hear of several interviews that dr. baker had with law enforcement where he discusses the cause and manner of death and what that actually means according to what he saw presenl determination of mr. floyd's cause of death. the medical findings include

things such as the blood gas test that was taken at hcmc that revealed mr. floyd had an exceptionally high level of carbon dioxide. dr. baker found none of what are referred to as the telltale signs of asphyxiation. there were no bruises to mr. floyd's neck, either on his skin or after peeling his skin back to the muscles beneath. there was no petechial hemorrhaging. there was no evidence thatmr. floyd's air flow was restricted, and he did not determine to be a positional or mechanical asphyxia death. at the time mr. floyd was in the hospital, a femoral blood draw was taken. that blood draw was analyzed by a lab, the results of mr. floyd's toxicology screen

revealed the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine among other things, and it will be important to know the difference between fentanyl and methamphetamine. the autopsy revealed many other issues, including coronary disease, an enlarged heart, called a paraganglioma, which is a tumor that secretes adrenaline, swelling or edema of the lungs. the state was not satisfied with dr. baker's work, and so they have contracted with numerous physicians to contradict dr. baker's findings. and this will ultimately be another significant battle in this trial, what was mr. floyd's actual cause of death. the evidence will show that mr. floyd died of a cardiac

arrhythmia that occurred as a result of hypertension, his coronary disease, the ingestion of methamphetamine and fentanyl, and the adrenaline flowing through his body, all of which acted to further compromise an already compromised heart. at the conclusion of this evidence, you will be instructed as to the law, the elements of the offense, and the court will give you detailed instructions on what you must find to convict mr. chauvin of these charges. but when you review the actual evidence and when you hear the law and apply reason and common sense, there will only be one just verdict, and that is to find mr. chauvin not guilty. >> members of the jury, we're going to take our morning recess at this time until about 11:15. i want you to keep in mind that these breaks we try and keep as much as we can to time, but if

bathroom needs and other needs are important, we can expand it a little bit. so i don't want you to be nervous about making sure all of your personal business is done within the 20 minutes. >> judge peter kay hill advising the jury of the break and this trial will proceed. however, we have just watched over the last hour and a half, hour and 40 minutes or so the opening statements from both sides in the case against former officer derek chauvin in the death of george floyd. let me bring in -- if i can, paul butler now, one of our nbc news analysts, georgetown law professor, former federal prosecutor and also criminal defense attorney danny cevallos. danny, let me begin with you, the defense is clearly going to present an entirely different view of what happened. >> that's right. for even taking the defense perspective in this case, it is so difficult to sit through and

watch that awful video of george floyd that, i mean, the jurors have to be thinking about that as they take their first break. the defense needs to pivot away from the video. they did, and they argued causation. 11 nanograms per milliliter of feyl is more than enough, they're going to argue, for a d. they're going to show says anywe