Prosecution rests in the trial of 3 ex-officers accused in George Floyd's death

Prosecution¹ rests in the trial of 3 ex-officers accused in George Floyd's death

Transcript²

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler about the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers, charged with depriving George Floyd of his civil rights.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The defense³ is expected to start presenting witnesses today in the trial of three former police officers accused of violating George Floyd's civil rights. All three were at the scene when Floyd died in May 2020. This was after Derek Chauvin used his knee to press Floyd's neck to the ground for more than nine minutes. One of the officers, J. Alexander Kueng, knelt on Floyd's back; Thomas Lane held down his legs; Tou Thao held back onlookers⁴. Over the last three weeks, prosecutors⁶ have called witnesses, doctors and police experts. Yesterday, they rested their case.

Paul Butler is with us now. He's a former federal prosecutor⁵ and law professor at Georgetown University. Thanks for being back on the show, Paul.

PAUL BUTLER: Hey, Rachel, it's great to be here.

MARTIN: When it comes to civil rights cases as this is, how difficult are they to prove?

BUTLER: These are tough cases for the government. In this case, all three officers are charged with depriving Mr. Floyd of his right to be free of an unreasonable⁷ search and seizure⁸. And two of the officers are also charged with failing to intervene to stop Mr. Chauvin's use of unreasonable force. There has to be proof of willfulness, of criminal intent, which is difficult in these cases when often jurors are sympathetic. They think even if the officers made a mistake, they were only trying to do their job.

MARTIN: Although, I mean, they will - the prosecution has no doubt tried to prove that by not acting⁹ to give Floyd adequate medical assistance, that that is material to this case.

BUTLER: That's right. In this case, though, two of the officers were rookies. It was Mr. Kueng's third shift as a police officer, and Chauvin was his training officer. It was Mr. Lane's fourth day on the job. And these officers say they did try to help. Mr. Kueng told Chauvin he couldn't detect a pulse of Mr. Floyd, and Mr. Lane asked whether they should roll Mr. Floyd on his side. And in both cases, they were rebuffed by Chauvin. Mr. Thao had no physical contact with Mr. Floyd. Now, Rachel, none of these are technically¹⁰ defenses, but they may make a difference to the jury.

MARTIN: Derek Chauvin changed his plea to guilty on similar civil rights charges back in December. Could that plea have any bearing on this current civil rights case?

BUTLER: No, I don't think that the judge will allow the jury to consider that especially and not to impute¹² guilt¹¹. Now, Mr. Chauvin is an absent star of this trial because one of the main defenses is to blame Derek Chauvin. He was a senior officer on the scene. He'd been a police officer for many years, and he was one of the defendant's training officers. So they say when he arrived at the scene, he took command, and they basically followed his orders.

MARTIN: You nodded to the fact that, you know, some of these officers just hadn't been on the job that long, and the defense has blamed the Minneapolis Police Department for what it calls poor training. Do you think that's a reliable defense at this point?

BUTLER: It depends on the facts, so we are going to hear the formal defense starting today of what these officers say is that they were told inconsistent things about the use of force when they were in the academy. They say, for example, that they were shown a video of an officer with his knee on a suspect's neck, and nobody said that that - that there was a duty to intervene. They say this happened actually during their training.

MARTIN: The last prosecution witness was the police chief at the University of Virginia, Tim Longo. He testified that the former officer's conduct was, quote, "inconsistent with generally accepted policing practices." And he said officers have a duty to take what he called affirmative steps to stop excessive force. How often does this happen, that one officer steps up and reports another officer for wrongdoing?

BUTLER: You know, it's rare, and that's why I think this case is, in many ways, more important in terms of transforming police culture than the state murder trial of Derek Chauvin. Because, Rachel, what these defendants¹³ allegedly did and failed to do reflects the police workplace culture of enabling criminal acts committed by police officers. And that's a far more common and insidious¹⁴ form of police misconduct than Chauvin's extreme act of murdering a suspect. There was a striking moment at Chauvin's trial when a Minneapolis EMT officer testified that she was off duty and happened to cross the scene and saw Mr. Floyd crying out in agony. She begged Officer Thao to let her help. He told her, if you really are a Minneapolis firefighter, you would know better than to get involved. That's the dangerous mindset that must be rooted out to prevent more tragedies like the death of George Floyd.

MARTIN: Paul Butler with Georgetown University, thank you.

BUTLER: Always a pleasure.

1 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

5 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

6 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

7 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

8 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

11 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

12 impute   

v.归咎于

参考例句：

• I impute his failure to laziness.我把他的失败归咎于他的懒惰。
• It is grossly unfair to impute blame to the United Nations.把责任归咎于联合国极其不公。

13 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

14 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。