Minnesota vs. Derek Chauvin (MN vs. DC) is the first Minnesota Criminal Trial ever to be televised, and only the second police murder trial in state history.
Two years ago, Minnesota tried officer Mohamed Noor for the death of an Australian Woman named Justine Ruszczyk (MN vs. MN). This week Kim Potter shot Daunte Wright two blocks away from a DHS Fusion Center.
Minnesota has achieved twin goals of both equality and equity for Women and BIPOC.
Justine Ruszczyk and George Floyd are both dead.
The Ruszczyk family received a $20 million settlement within 48 hours of the jury verdict.
The Floyd family received a $27 million settlement in the middle of jury selection.
Kim Potter will soon face the Minnesota Criminal Justice System.
Justine, Philando, George, Thurman, Daunte all have equality.
Ben Crump, Al Sharpton, and the Minnesota Attorney General will all work to ensure the Wright Family receives equity.
Innocent until proven guilty?
Virtually no one outside of the media saw the jury selection in MN vs. MN. There were a surprising number of jurors who were literally incapable of understanding the presumption of innocence. Long periods of silence when asked were actually added to the record, over the objection of the State.
In MN vs. MN, there was an obvious effort to select Women and BIPOC jurors, because a BIPOC was on trial.
In MN vs. DC, there was also an obvious effort to select Women and BIPOC, because a BIPOC was the victim.
“That Black girl never had a chance,” said Mpls activist Mel Reeves, as he walked up and down the aisle in the courthouse media center. He was referring to potential juror #37, who said that having to rewatch the video was going to be traumatizing to her. “The only other Black juror is from Grand Rapids, and she ain’t culturally Black; it’s different,” he said as he explained how there will be riots if this case doesn’t go a certain way.
The Defense juror strikes show the disparities that Women and BIPOC face in getting fair representation on juries, as the judge motioned to strike all jurors who couldn’t presume innocence, or had posted on social media that Chauvin had murdered Floyd.
Juror #42 admitted that she’d never believed something and then later found out she was wrong, and Juror #44 hadn’t checked with her new jobs’ jury policy. There was also a Black man, concerned about the trial interrupting his birthday and was going to have to check with his wife. He was also struck by Defense.
These are the jurors struck by Defense, in all:
Struck by Defense
– Hispanic, 40’s-50’s Woman
– Hispanic , 20’s-30’s, Woman
– Asian 30’s-40’s, Man
– White, 60’s, Man
– White, Man
– Hispanic, Man
– White, Man, 60’s, Man
– White, Woman
– White, Man
– White, 20’s, Man
– White, Man
– Black, Man
– White, 20’s Man
The Prosecution was concerned that systemic racism would affect the outcome, and issued two Batson challenges, alleging that the Defense was striking witnesses due to their race.
The Prosecution then struck the following potential jurors:
Struck by Prosecution
– White, 50’s-60’s, Man
– White, 60’s, Woman
– White, 30’s, Woman
– White, 20’s-30’s, Man
– White, Man
– White, 40’s-50’s, Woman
– White, 30’s Man
– White, 30’s Man
Also struck by the State, and the Court, were any jurors concerned about the violence and harassment coming from their decision. Also struck was anyone who said any variant of “Black and Blue Lives, or ALL lives should matter.” One notable exception was juror #27, a well-educated African immigrant IT manager who said, “ANY lives should matter, but Black Lives should matter more because they are marginalized.” He made the cut.
In the end, following outrage after outrage on Twitter, the most diverse jury in Mpls history was chosen. This jury is 80% Women and BIPOC.
No. 2: white male; 20s
No. 9: multi/mixed-race woman; 20s
No. 19: white male; 30s
No. 27: black male; 30s
No. 44: white woman; 50s
No. 52: black male; 30s
No. 55: white woman; 50s
No. 79: black male; 40s
No. 85: multi/mixed-race woman; 40s
No. 89: white woman; 50s
No. 91: black woman; 60s
No. 96: white woman; 50s
No. 118: white woman; 20s
No. 131: white man; 20s
Update: Juror 131 was sent home, and will not serve as an alternate. This means that 12 of the 14 jurors (85%) that will judge Derek Chauvin’s guilt or innocence, are Women and BIPOC. 15% are not Women or BIPOC, and we all know full diversity cannot be achieved on juries until that number is 0.
Next up, Al Sharpton and Ben Crump tell us the best way to ensure justice is to just ignore a bunch of evidence.
