Former public defender: Unlikely Chauvin takes stand in his own trial

As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin enters its third week, a former public defender says the defense could start calling witnesses to the stand as soon as this week.

Mary Moriarty, the former chief public defender for Hennepin County, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she expects prosecutors to rest their case early this week. At that point, the defense will start bringing in its own witnesses, which could include Chauvin taking the stand in his own defense.

Chauvin, who is white, is charged with second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the in-custody death of George Floyd, a Black man, on May 25.

“He is very subject to cross-examination about the nine-and-a-half minutes that day,” Moriarty said. “And unless he can come up with some sympathy where the jurors connect with him in some way, I don’t think testifying would really add much to his case, and it could hurt him.”

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Moriarty said the final decision whether to testify rests with Chauvin himself.

“He will be hearing advice and his attorneys will be consulting him on what testifying would mean in the case, but every defendant has the final say as to whether they testify,” she said.

Moriarty said the defense will likely call expert witnesses to the stand to lay out their case to the jury that there were factors other than four officers applying pressure to Floyd’s body that played a “substantial role” in Floyd’s death.

“Now, what the defense wants to show that it was Floyd’s heart problem, the drugs, as well as the adrenaline and George Floyd’s struggle against police,” Moriarty said. “And so that’s where the defense will need to create reasonable doubt.”

Moriarty said there is a good chance the case could go to the jury for a verdict as early as next week.