MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A prospective juror who once lived near where George Floyd was arrested told the attorney for an ex-officer charged with Floyd’s death that he had personal reason for wanting to sit on the jury.
“Because as a black man, I see a lot of black people being killed and no one held accountable for it, and you wonder why or what the decisions were,” Juror No. 76 said under questioning during the jury selection in Derek Chauvin’s murder case.“So with this I may be in the room to find out why.”
But the man will not be in the room. Although he said he felt he could weigh up the evidence fairly, he was struck by the defense. It was an illustration of how difficult it can be for people who say they have personal experience of police misconduct to get through juries calling them to account.
“We have a black man who was probably in the best position to judge the exclusion of the case,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and head of a community activist organization called the Wayfinder Foundation.
The man said he experiences racism on a daily basis, and he strongly agreed that the police are more likely to react violently to black people than to whites. Levy Armstrong called the jury member’s disqualification a “huge slap in the face” that “only underlines why people believe there is systemic racism at work in these legal processes.”
The jury selection in Chauvin’s case is nearing completion, with 12 of the 14 required judges selected on Thursday. So far the racial makeup of the jury has been evenly distributed; six of the judges are white, four are black and two are multiracial, the court said.
Floyd was pronounced dead last May after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against the black man’s neck for about nine minutes while lying face down on the floor and handcuffed. Floyd begged for air several times and eventually fell silent.
But local activists like Levy Armstrong say police brutality has been rampant long before Floyd’s death.
Juror 76 – referred in court by number only to protect anonymity – said Minneapolis police would “drive around the neighborhood with ‘Another One Bites the Dust'” after a local person was shot or arrested.
Levy Armstrong said such a context would be essential to the group of 12 people deciding Chauvin’s fate. Local activists have noted that several selected jurors have relationships with police officers, wondering, why can’t a black man who has had negative experiences with the police appear on a jury?
Nelson used one of his coercive attacks to fire the man after he tried and failed to get him hit “for good reason” – citing his negative opinion of the Minneapolis police and his statements that Floyd had been “murdered”.
Prosecutors argued against the strike in a case, saying that the man was simply thinking about the reality of his experience, and pointed out that he had said he could put his personal feelings aside.
Nelson’s forcible strike, which was not contested, needed no explanation. Lawyers cannot beat a juror based on race.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said he did not think a challenge would have worked in this case, citing the man’s negative statements about the Minneapolis police.
But he noted that the man’s statements also showed that he could be honest.
“My conclusion from what he said is, ‘I can put it aside, and if he’s not guilty, I can get to that verdict because I’m comfortable telling people why it happened,’ ‘said Cahill. adding that “would put him in order. in the middle as far as fair and impartial.”
Alan Turkheimer, a Chicago jury adviser, said he was not surprised that the defense would try to dissuade anyone who experienced police brutality from a jury.
“Sometimes people just can’t be honest even if they don’t know,” he said. ‘It’s so ingrained. It’s so hard to shake something like that. “
He added that questioning – and ultimately standing out – potential jurors based on their experiences provides a “built-in benefit to police officers.”
At racial justice rallies this week, many have turned their attention to systemic racism within the justice system and how juries are selected, said Jaylani Hussein, a local activist and executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“It’s a terrible, racist thought process: we have to prevent people who get angry – you know the angry black man or angry black woman – from getting on the jury because they won’t take this seriously,” he said.
For the juror, the idea of being part of Chauvin’s verdict was something he approached as a momentous matter. He said he had avoided the in-depth coverage of Floyd’s death and even dismissed the topic with his wife.
“I had no opinion of Mr. Chauvin because I didn’t know him,” said the judge. “It’s pathetic. It’s another black man being murdered in police hands. That’s all I could say.”
Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Find AP’s full coverage of George Floyd’s death at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd