Chauvin Juror Defends Participation In Washington March

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — One of many jurors who convicted Derek Chauvin within the homicide of George Floyd on Monday defended his participation in a protest final summer time in Washington, D.C., following on-line hypothesis about his motives for serving on the jury and whether or not it could be grounds for enchantment.

A photograph, posted on social media, reveals Brandon Mitchell, who’s Black, attending the Aug. 28 occasion to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in the course of the 1963 March on Washington. Floyd’s brother and sister, Philonise and Bridgett Floyd, and kinfolk of others who’ve been shot by police addressed the gang.

That photograph lately recirculated on-line, the Star Tribune reported.

It reveals Mitchell standing with two cousins and sporting a T-shirt with an image of King and the phrases, “GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS” and “BLM,” for Black Lives Matter. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds final Might as Floyd mentioned repeatedly that he couldn’t breathe.

Mitchell, 31, acknowledged being on the occasion and that his uncle posted the photograph, however mentioned he doesn’t recall sporting or proudly owning the shirt.

Mitchell was certainly one of 12 jurors who convicted Chauvin of second- and third-degree homicide and second-degree manslaughter. Mitchell, the primary juror to go public, spoke to a number of media shops final week, together with The Related Press.

“I’d by no means been to D.C.,” Mitchell mentioned of his causes for attending the occasion. “The chance to go to D.C., the chance to be round 1000’s and 1000’s of Black individuals; I simply thought it was a superb alternative to be part of one thing.”

Mitchell and Chauvin’s legal professional, Eric Nelson, haven’t returned messages from The Related Press looking for remark.

Mike Brandt, a Minneapolis protection legal professional not concerned within the case, advised the AP the revelation alone wasn’t almost sufficient to overturn Chauvin’s conviction, but it surely might be mixed with different points — the announcement of an enormous civil settlement to Floyd’s household throughout jury choice, the taking pictures of Daunte Wright, the decide’s refusal to maneuver the trial — in an enchantment to say Chauvin was denied a good trial.

Ted Sampsell-Jones, a professor on the Mitchell Hamline Faculty of Regulation, advised the AP that the photograph of Mitchell was “proof that Chauvin can level to as a way to set up that his proper to an neutral jury was denied.”

He added: “Talking frankly, Chauvin didn’t have a totally neutral jury within the sense we often give prison defendants. That wasn’t the fault of the decide or the prosecutors, it was merely a perform of the unbelievable publicity and public strain” surrounding the trial.

Mitchell mentioned he answered “no” to 2 questions on demonstrations on the questionnaire despatched out earlier than jury choice.

The primary query requested: “Did you, or somebody near you, take part in any of the demonstrations or marches in opposition to police brutality that came about in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s dying?” The second requested: “Aside from what you’ve got already described above, have you ever, or anybody near you, participated in protests about police use of pressure or police brutality?”

Mitchell advised Nelson throughout jury choice that he had a “very favorable” opinion of Black Lives Matter, that he knew some law enforcement officials at his fitness center who’re “nice guys,” and that he felt impartial about Blue Lives Matter, a pro-police group. He additionally mentioned he had watched clips of bystander video of Floyd being pinned and had puzzled why three different officers on the scene didn’t intervene.

He mentioned he might be impartial at trial.

Mitchell advised the Star Tribune that final summer time’s protest was “100% not” a march for Floyd.

“It was immediately associated to MLK’s March on Washington from the ’60s … The date of the March on Washington is the date … It was actually referred to as the anniversary of the March on Washington,” he mentioned.