8.2 HuGeo Q3 Derek Chauvin trial week #3

8.2 HuGeo Q3 Derek Chauvin trial week #3

The jury is seated (we are all obsessed with the demographic data about these 15 people)

Opening statements begin Monday, March 29

Fox TV News: Jury question on next slide

• 1.   Juror No. 2: White man in his 20s

  2.   Juror No. 9: Mixed/multiracial woman in her 20s

  3.   Juror No. 19: White man in his 30s

  4.   Juror No. 27: Black man in his 30s 

  5.   Juror No. 44: White woman in her 50s 

  6.   Juror No. 52: Black man in his 30s

  7.   Juror No. 55: White woman in her 50s

  8.   Juror No. 79: Black man in his 40s 

  9.   Juror No. 85: Mixed/multiracial woman in her 40s

  10.Juror No. 89: White woman in her 50s

  11.Juror No. 91: Black woman in her 60s

  12.Juror No. 92: White woman in her 40s

  13.Juror No. 96: White woman in her 50s

Multiple Select

Did you read the previous slide's demographic data? What does this TV station think is important to know about the jurors seated in the Chauvin trial?

• sex (male/female)

• age by decade :

  Ms. Sevald is in her 60s,

  Ms. Pin is in her 40s,

  you all are in your teens

• race (the jurors told the court this in their 14-page questionnaire)

• national origin (what country they were born in)

Multiple Select

From the USA Today newspaper:

"The panel includes six jurors of color, including three Black men, one Black woman and two mixed-race women. Nine jurors are white."

Click screenshots from the newspaper and then the interpretation.

• This newspapers thinks age, race, and sex are important.

• This newspaper thinks race and sex is important, but not age.

Poll

For this poll, you are a lawyer for the State. That means you work for the government. The government has to prove that Derek Chauvin committed a crime when he killed George Floyd.

All 12 jurors MUST AGREE with each other. JOB #1 is to choose the "right" jurors. Who do you want on the jury?

• men

• women

• young people

• White people

• Black people / people of color

Poll

For this poll, you are Derek Chauvin's lawyer.

You do not have to prove anything. You have to show the jury that the government cannot PROVE that Chauvin killed George Floyd.

You just need ONE JUROR to believe that Chauvin is NOT GUILTY to win the case. Who do you want on the jury?

• Men

• Women

• Old people

• Black people / people of color

• White people

Multiple Select

In this video, we hear many times ... "This is a more diverse jury than usual."

• more people of color, younger people than a usual Minneapolis jury

• white, older people, like usual Minneapolis juries

Multiple Select

Every media outlet is looking at the jury and counting demographic data about the people. This newspaper counted gender, race, and age. Click on all of them.

Multiple Select

Derek Chauvin's lawyer's name is Eric Nelson. He is the only person on earth who says this trial is not about race.

• Derek Chauvin's defense attorney says the murder trial 'is not about race.'

• "We’re at an interesting point in society where people are telling us what is and what is not about race. I’m not sure that the defense attorney in this case gets to make that decision," said Samuel R. Sommers, a social psychology professor.

• The professor is saying that Eric Nelson, Chauvin's lawyer, doesn't get to say what is or is not about race.

• Race is not an important part of this trial.

Multiple Select

Opening statements in the trial are scheduled to begin on March 29.

• The trial begins on Monday, March 29.

• Derek Chauvin's lawyers and the lawyers for the state (government) will give opening statements.

• Each side will tell the jury their "theory of the case": why Chauvin is guilty or not guilty

Multiple Select

The metaphor of OPENING STATEMENTS as a road map (like Google maps), a journey, a trip, that has a destination.

• The opening statement is the lawyers' first opportunity to talk directly to the jury in a trial.

• The government lawyers, the prosecution, have to PROVE Chauvin committed a crime, so their story will focus on Chauvin's actions in his past and on May 25.

• The prosecution's destination is a guilty verdict.

• The defenses's destination is a non-guilty verdict.

Multiple Select

Opening statements: each side says to the jury ...

-who is involved

-tells the facts and evidence so that the jury can better understand the overall case

-frames the evidence in a way that is favorable to the lawyer's theory of the case, and

-outlines what the lawyer expects to prove.

• the government is going to argue that Derek Chauvin and his former colleagues, all fired from the Minneapolis police department, used inappropriate levels of force

• the defense is claiming that all the police particularly Derek Chauvin used reasonable force and they are also going to claim that mr Floyd is to blame for his own death

Multiple Select

At trial, the central question will most likely be the exact cause of Mr. Floyd’s death.

The county medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by a combination of the officers’ use of force, the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Mr. Floyd’s system and his underlying health conditions.

• The defense will focus on trying to prove Mr. Floyd died of a drug overdose.

• Prosecutors are saying that Chauvin's record as a violent police officer means that what happened with George Floyd was part of a pattern, not a one-time ting.

• Medical testimony detailing the results of George Floyd's death will not be that important.

Multiple Select

A verdict in the Chauvin trial is not expected until mid to late April. At the end of the trial, the jury will decide whether Derek Chauvin committed a crime, or not. The decision is called the verdict.

• If the jury cannot all agree, it's called a split decision.

• The jury in Derek Chauvin's trial MUST ALL AGREE. It must be a unanimous decision, or he "walks". (does not go to jail)

The trial will go into April

the world will be focused on Minneapolis next month and we will follow what's happening in HuGeo