George Floyd death: Kamala Harris says 'it will not be easy' to get a conviction for Derek Chauvin
The unconditional bail of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis policeman who has been charged with the second-degree murder of George Floyd, was increased to $1.25 million on Monday, June 8. However, California Senator and former presidential candidate Kamala Harris feels it will be very challenging to convict Chauvin because “it is still the case that jurors are inclined to trust police officers." Chauvin made his first appearance in court on Monday via video link from jail.
Speaking on The View, Harris said: “The evidence surrounding George Floyd’s death I think without a question supports the charges against him [Chauvin] but it will not be easy to get a conviction because it is still the case that jurors are inclined to trust police officers.” “That has been part of the difficulty that so many prosecutors have had when they brought these cases,” she continued, adding: “But there’s no denying that this officer and those who were his accomplices should pay attention to real consequence and accountability for what they’ve done.”
“He died while this police officer who had been invested with a badge and a gun by the people used the power he was given by the people to have his knee on a human being's neck,” the 55-year-old senator said. Floyd died when on May 25, Chauvin, 44, pressed his knee on his neck after pinning the former to the ground during a brutal arrest on charges of giving a fake note to a shopkeeper to buy cigarettes. A video of the disturbing incident went viral, sparking protests across the US and also abroad. Chauvin was arrested days later and slapped with a second-degree murder charge. Three other officers, who were also present at the site, were also arrested and charged as accomplices.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner, however, said that the primary autopsy report found no proof that Floyd died from strangulation and traumatic asphyxia after Chauvin pressed his neck with his knee for more than eight minutes. The examiner also said that the 46-year-old man had underlying health conditions like coronary artery and hypertensive heart diseases. Another examiner hired by Floyd's family disagreed with that report and specifically said he died from asphyxia. While the authencity of both reports is being debated, forensic pathologists and medical experts have said that the conclusions of the two are not too different. "They are just different ways of describing the same thing,” Dr Joye Carter, forensic pathologist to the sheriff of San Luis Obispo County, California, was quoted as saying by FiveThirtyEight. Dr Judy Melinek, a San Francisco-based forensic pathologist, said some of the public confusion over Floyd's autopsy has perhaps been caused by misinterpretation by the media and people in general.
On Monday, Judge Jeannice Reding raised Chauvin’s conditional bail from $750,000 to $1 million and unconditional bail from $1 million to $1.25 million as the latter appeared in Hennepin County court via video conferencing for the first time since his arrest on May 29. The bail conditions would mean Chauvin surrender any firearms and license to carry, not work in law enforcement or security and not have any contact with the Floyd family besides abiding by the law and remaining in Minnesota under the court’s supervision and signing a waiver of extradition upon his release from jail.
Floyd killing could influence Harris' political career
The Floyd killing incident could influence Harris’ political career in a significant way. At a time when presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has vouched for a woman vice president, Harris’ name has remained among the top contenders. However, as Floyd died, Harris’ law-enforcement record also came under scrutiny and it was being feared that could prove to be a liability for her. Right-wing trolls started targeting Harris, a former California attorney general, with a “Kamala is a cop” narrative. But with another frontrunning vice presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar also finding herself in a spot over a past episode that involved Chauvin (she is a former attorney of Hennepin County where Floyd died), Harris could still find herself to be luckier.