i want to bring in our chief legal analyst dan abrams tonight. and dan, before we goat to the question, i just wanted to point out that this jury, the makeup of the jury, which is a headline in and of itself, we knew this going, but perhaps now an even more significant part of this, the jury was made up of six white jurors, six people of color, four black jurors and two people who identify as mixed race. so, a very diverse jury deciding this. and we know that in the closing argueths in the last 24 hours, prosecutors going back to what they said on the very first day in that opening statement, that you can believe what you see and it would appear the jurors did. >> absolutely. that message resonated. believe what you see, believe your eyes. use your common sense. those were the basic arguments made by the prosecutors, which is the video tells the story. and i think when you point out about the diversity of the jurors, it wasn't just their racial diversity. there was a great diversity in terms of what they did for a living and how they viewed the wo

>> dan abrams watching the trial with us today. dan, thank you. and we will, of course, stay on this as the jury deliberates and we will break into programming when there is a verdict. thank you, dan. >>> we're going to turn in the meantime to the other news this monday night. the coronavirus here in the u.s. half of all adults now have now had one shot of the vaccine and everyone 16 and older is now eligible here in the u.s. in new jersey today, teenagers getting vaccinated, 16 and 17-year-olds. you see the numbers right there. 130,995,000 people have now had one shot. and tonight here, what the cdc is now saying about the temporary pause of the johnson & johnson vaccine. the cdc director saying they are looking into a small number of additional cases that might be related, though she said not confirmed. here's abc's stephanie ramos tonight. >> reporter: tonight, a green light for every american 16 years old and older to get the vaccine. a moment millions have been waiting for. >> finally feel like i can do -- go out with covid and feel safer. >>

this morning, dan abrams explains what we can expect from the defense. >>> thousands of kids have put on their backpacks for the first time in a year. local districts welcoming students back to the classroom today. >>> we are starting up with a live look outside. -- actually, we're actually going to start with a live look from mike nico instead. >> strike a pose. it is us. let's take a look what is going on. a record high, ha you can see that 18 miles per hour wind at fairfield. look at the ferry building. that gives you an idea that, yes, the warm weekend is over. low to mid 80s in the east valley. look at the 60s and 70s dominating elsewhere. mid to upper 50s along the coast. this is just the beginning. it's going to be really cool this coming weekend, even cooler than average. i will show you that coming up. let's get back to jobina for the news of the day. >>> after three weeks of testimony, the fate of derek chauvin will be in the hands of the jury. this is nearly one year after george floyd's death. cities are bracing for the verdict. here is more. >> reporter: this morning, ant

let's bring in our chief legal analyst dan abrams. dan, thanks so much for being with us this morning. we know this is a highly charged case. how important are these closing arguments? >> closing arguments are always one of the most important, and some lawyers would tell you the most important point in a trial. why? because they bring together all of the evidence that the jurors have now heard for days and days, witness and witness into one story. they tell you, this is what it means. this is why we were doing all of this. and, while that is critical, and it will be critical, the reality is that a number of these jurors will have already made up their minds. so closing arguments will be very important, but let's not overstate it in terms of what kind of impact it will actually have on the jurors. >> so with all the testimony and evidence presented, what do you think the prosecution's main focus will be during these closing arguments? >> i think they're going to try and link together the expert witnesses that they called about unreasona

this morning, dan abrams explains what we can expect from the defense. >>> thousands of kids have puteir backpacks for the first time in a year. local districts welcoming students back to the classroom today. >>> we are starting up with a live look outside. -- actually, we're actually going to start with a live look from mike nico instead. >> strike a pose. it is us. let's take a look what is going on. a record high, the winds have changed. you can see that 18 miles per hour wind at fairfield. look at the ferry building. that gives you an idea that, yes, the warm weekend is over. low to mid 80s in the east

we're joined by dan abrams, pierre thomas, and terri austin from law and crime, and dan, let me begine're two weeks in right now. assess the prosecution's case. >> i think it's a stronger case than many even expected coming into this. there were potential pitfalls for the prosecution coming into this case, and they seem to have avoided them so far. two key legal questions, right? number one is the reasonableness of the force, number two is cause of death. on reasonableness of force, these witnesses have been so powerful. these are not random experts. this is the police chief from minneapolis. this is lapd's expert in this particular area, and they are saying that's not reasonable. i think on that issue, it is a nonissue at this point in the case. the second issue has always been the trickier one which is the cause of death, and one of the questions was what exactly will the medical examiner say? meaning he gave this kind of nuanced assessment. he said, yes, it was the police, but there were also these underlying conditions. he had a heart condition and drugs in his system. when he tes

. >>> let's bring in our chief legal analyst dan abrams. dan, this is kind of a head scratcher to me. 84 to 87 miles an hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone. why no punishment? >> some people will be surprised to hear that that's actually standard operating procedure when you don't have a police witness or an eyewitness. meaning, if they had clocked him on radar going that speed, i don't think there's any question that he would be getting at least a ticket here. if there had been injuries apart from his, i think you'd probably talk about something further here. but without injuries, without the police having been there, et cetera, it's not unusual at all to see no ramifications in a case like this apart from, you know, i assume increased insurance premiums, but certainly not with regard to police activity. >> now, this was a confidential report by law but woods' team gave permission to make it public. why do you think that is? >> i think they wanted to make it clear that this was speed and it wasn't related to any intoxicants. i think that he wan

. >>> we'll dig deeper and bring in our legal analyst dan abrams, and, dan, this is being called thepeech in 50 years. so from a legal and possible precedent-setting standpoint how big of a deal is this case? >> well, it depends on how broad the supreme court goes. it could be an enormous case if the supreme court issues a sweeping ruling about this free speech rights of students when they're off of school grounds. on the other hand, though, the court could decide this very narrowly as the supreme court often does and says, you know what, we're not going to get into the big picture issues but we're going to make a very specific ruling on the facts here. that's going to be the big question to look for. >> and there's one wrinkle in this case, is that when the student joined the squad, she agreed not to be publicly critical of the team and not to use vulgar language. how can that play a role in the court's decision? >> yeah, that code of conduct that she agreed to could be the out for the court. meaning, the court could say, you know, this isn't a case about a student who got thrown ou

let's bring in dan abrams. alex points out this will come down to whether the jurors believe officer chauvin's behavior created a substantial role, not killing george floyd necessarily entirely, but a substantial role in the death of george floyd and whether they made that case successfully. >> and they have the burden to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. they had a lot of witnesses testify they believe that was crystal clear. you had a little bit of disagreement between the prosecution's witnesses exactly what the cause of death was, but they all agreed derek chauvin's actions were the cause of the death. that's the best argument for the defense here. the defense will focus on that issue pursuing reasonable doubt. the defense is hoping for, betting on that somebody in that jury room, more than somebody, i just don't know. i'm not certain about exactly what happened. >> dan abrams with us as well. this courtroom live streaming right now. judge cahill now speaking. >> you have a copy on your seat. i would en

. >>> we're going to bring in dan abrams now for what is next for derek chauvin. n, thank you for being here this morning. so we heard the judge say sentencing in eight weeks yesterday after he read those three guilty verdicts aloud. what type of prison time is chauvin facing? >> he's facing the highest of the charges, second degree murder, and the presumptive sentence in the state of minnesota is 12 1/2 years under the sentencing guidelines with someone with no criminal background. but prosecutors are asking for an enhancement, they're asking for a stiffer sentence. among the reasons that they're going to be citing is the fact that he was a police officer, the fact that george floyd was vulnerable and that there were children present. remember, we've been talking about this, this 9-year-old girl who testified in this case wasn't just an eyewitness. she could also be a critical witness in the context of sentencing because if this sort of crime occurs in the presence of children, you can get an enhanced sentence as well. so that debate over the sentencing will be co

this morning abc news chief legal analyst dan abrams is on "gma" breaking down how effective each argument was. >> you have to understand what he had been dealing with up to that point to understand why he did what he did. the problem is that doesn't answer the question of why he was doing what he did at moment 3 in the nine minute tape and moment 6, at moment 8 -- and that is the big east challenge. >> chauvin has pleaded guilty to murder and manslaughter charges. minnesota's gov deployed 2,000 national troops to be on stand by once a verdict is reached. oakland and san francisco are also preparing for the possibility of protests. >> jobina, thank you. we have been bringing you complete live coverage of the trial and of course, that will include the delivery of the verdict. you can watch that on our abc7 news news and on our abc7 news app. >>> johnson & johnson suffered yet another setback with the covid-19 vaccine. a maryland team stopped production at the request of government regulators. the fda is looking into a mistake at that facility that led to the disposal of millions of doses. t

we're going to now bring in abc chief legal analyst dan abrams and channa lloyd, managing partner of e cochran firm. good morning to you both. dan, we heard derek chauvin speak for the very first time in court saying that he will not testify. we heard a little bit of a discussion between him and his lawyer talking about how much they discussed coming to this decision. so what was their calculation here? >> i'll bet they discussed it a lot, but probably not a lot of debate. the problem for derek chauvin in taking the witness stand is he would have had to explain, not just why he put his knee on to george floyd, but why he had it there in minute seven and minute eight, et cetera. and i think that there just weren't good enough answers for that to allow him to take the witness stand. now, look, i've seen in other cases police officers take the witness stand, and it's helped them in explaining the context, what they were thinking, what they were feeling, but in this case i don't think that was ever a real subject of debate. >> channa, both sides have now rested. pretty striking in the num

. >> let's bring in chief legal analyst dan abrams. this appears to be legal, right?at they're allowed to implement health protocols as they see fit. remember, even the state is allowed to demand that people get vaccines. we've seen that -- the supreme court decision with regard to smallpox, which said yes, even states can require it. so no doubt that private businesses are allowed to say we're going to demand this, remember, though, if it's an employer, you have to think about those exemptions. the religious and, you know, the other kinds of medical exemptions, et cetera, if that's the case with regard to an employer, though, i think the employer could still say you can't come into the office but they'd have to make accommodations for the person to do their work. >> with those. but what about governors trying to put a ban on the passports? >> look, they can probably do that with regard to government entities, government businesses, government-related businesses, et cetera, but they probably can't do it with regard to those private businesses, so that's going to be th

and dan abrams weighs in live. with your gma first look i'm kenneth moton. >>> for the first time in more than a year, sharks fans got to cheer from inside the tank. abc 7 news was there to see first season ticketholders walk into sap center after a full list of protocol ifs that i have to be masked, show proof of vaccination, or a negative covid test. >> seeing the players actually come out. i think we miss it. we miss it a lot. it will be great to see them. >> the sharks goal you hear that over the loud speaker finally. >> so about 5,000 to 6,000 fans were there last night. to anyone who says the home fans don't make a difference, the sharks snapped an eight game losing streak winning 6 to 4. >>> a special election is all but set in the effort to recall governor newsom. the next steps under way to make the ballot official. >>> and smashed windshields and windows. a north bay neighborhood left feeling helpless. why some say this highlights a much bigger issue in the pandemic. >>> and this looks like a beautiful fi

coming up, legal expert dan abrams weighs in. >>> still to come, a boost for business as three bay areaounties moving to a less restrictive tier today. >>> astrazeneca's vaccine trial in kids is now on hold. >>> looking to the future. we have survived the pandemic but what will it take to really thrive? >>> taking a live look outside right now and 5:26 at sfo. we will be right back. >>> building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >>> the countdown is on. the goal is inside. the governor lays out a timeline to get life back to normal. >>> the announcement coming at a critical point for bay area businesses. three counties that move into the orange tier. we are outlining the changes that come with that. >>> vaccine trial trouble. the issue forcing astrazeneca to stop testing its shot on kids right now. >>> the effort to recall san francisco district attorney heats up. the milestone supporters just hit that is putting the pressure on. >>> it is wednesday, april 7. good morning to all of you. >>> let's start with a look at the forecast with meteorologis

this morning, abc news chief legal analyst dan abrams is on gma, breaking down how effective each argument was. >> you have to understand, what he had been dealing with up to that point, to understand why he did what he did. the problem is, that that doesn't answer the question of why he was doing what he did at moment three in the nine minute tape, moment six, moment eight, that's the bigger challenge. >> chauvin has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges. minnesota's governor has deployed 2000 national guard troops to be on standby. once a verdict is reached, other cities across the country, including oakland and san francisco, are also preparing for the possibility of protest. reggie? string >>> thanks, jobina. we will bleeding you delivery of the verdict, right here on abc7 news and the abc7 bay area connected tv app. download it now for roku, fire tv, apple tv and android tv. >>> johnson & johnson had suffered another major setback with the covid-19 vaccine. the maryland plant has temporarily stopped production, at the request of government regulators. the fda is lookin

. >>> and for more analysis on all of this, let's bring in abc news chief legal analyst dan abrams, channa lloyd, a civil rights attorney with the cochran firm and ferguson police chief jason armstrong. good morning to you all, and, chief, i want to start with you. you were not the chief in ferguson when michael brown was killed, but you have dealt with the aftermath, both in the community and the police department. what is your takeaway from the death of george floyd after watching all that video, and how should the city prepare for what might be coming with the verdict? >> my takeaway is it was tragic. it was something that should not have happened, and we all sympathize with the family of mr. floyd and his friends and loved ones for what happened to him. and it's a difficult situation for us to deal with, and we're all watching the trial to see, you know, how things unfold with it and with the understanding that if derek chauvin is not held accountable, that we probably will see, you know, our outpouring of frustration from that verdict if it does go that way, so it's just about plannin

. >> we'll talk about this with chief legal analyst dan abrams. was saying. he had this case allegedly using had is knee to hold down a teenager for nearly 17 minutes. why wouldn't the jury have heard about a case like that? >> so, typically you don't admit in what are called bad acts, prior incidents, even prior crimes against the defendant in a trial, because you want the jury to decide the case based on the evidence in front of it. you don't want them saying, well, he seems like the kind of guy who would do x, y or z. there's certain exceptions. if you can show, for example, that it shows -- it's his m.o., this is the way he deals with things, if there's a specific reason related to the case, the judge did allow prosecutors to present certain limited information about chauvin's past but not this incident. >> you think back to the trial and think how much of george floyd's past particularly his struggles with addiction came up in that trial. but you don't hear in-depth details about chauvin's policing history. is that unusual? could it come up in

. >>> let's bring in chief legal analyst dan abrams and channa lloyd, managing partner at the cochranith you. we know the jury will be sequestered later, but the defense wanted them sequestered now. because of this police killing right next door in minneapolis. the judge denied it. surprise you? >> no, it didn't, primarily because the judge hadn't sequestered the jury up to this point. remember, all of these jurors are prospective jurors. before this happened they knew that there had been protests in the wake of george floyd's death, so that is very different than saying that there were suddenly protests in the wake of a verdict in some case, and that's where the judge drew the line. remember, i think some people presume that juries are sequestered far more often than they are. it's very, very rare to sequester a jury, and it creates its own set of problems and issues, et cetera, so i wasn't surprised that the judge refused that request. >> okay, channa, let's talk about the prosecution's case, just about to wrap it up. how did they do? >> i think they laid a very solid foundation. th

. >>> for more now we bring in our abc news chief legal analyst dan abrams. i'll ask what alex was just referring to in a moment. dan, first of all, let's start with closing arguments. let's start with the prosecution. what's your takeaway? >> well, i think that they were very effective at hitting this theme of believe our eyes. use your common sense and then weaving in the expert testimony, meaning they told a story, a story about george floyd, a story about what had happened to him and then they had these big visual aids which would say, look, all the experts are saying the same thing about the cause of death and about the unreasonableness of the force, and i think it worked. >> and the defense really focusing not so much on the -- more than the nine-minute video that many of us have seen but focusing on what led up to that. was that effective, do you think? >> yeah, and that was not a surprising argument. i think that was an important argument for the defense to make which is to say you have to understand what was going on in derek chauvin's mind. you have

you better believe stacey abrams and others will do a god job educating voters about the new requirements. danthe need for some on the left to lie about the bill. biden said it demands that the polls close at 5:00 p.m. that is inaccurate. he's either lying or he hasn't read the bill. that's inexcusable because it understandably girks ns up anger. but that's not what the vote says. the bill keeps the polls up to 7:00 p.m. why lie about it? >> i think he was likely reefing to previous versions. you saw president trump going after governor kemp for time lines with early voting. we know that's not the case. it's from 7 to 7. so those statements were inaccurate by president biden. you are right to call him out on that and the "washington post" did as well. so my original point, the fact that -- it usurps local control our elections. that's my main concern. dan: i wish more people on the left would have substantial policy debates about this garbage about jim crow. >> we need it. this is the most fundamental american right as you said. let's have this debate out in the open. let's not have bills sign