The BulleTin • Sunday, March 28, 2021 A9
GEORGE FLOYD DEATH
What Derek Chauvin’s trial means for America
lowed to have more complex
views about race,” Chakravarti
said. “Cahill saw that you could
have an understanding of his-
torical injustice in this country
but also respect the formats of
the trial and protection of the
defendant.”
BY HOLLY BAILEY
The Washington Post
MINNEAPOLIS — On
Monday, a white former police
officer will go on trial for the
death of a Black man in a case
that many view as a barometer
of racial change in the United
States as much as it is about
Derek Chauvin’s guilt or inno-
cence.
Chauvin is charged with
murder for his actions on Me-
morial Day when, during an
investigation, he held his knee
on George Floyd’s neck for
more than nine minutes while
the Black man was handcuffed,
face down on a street, beg-
ging for breath and calling for
his dead mother until he went
limp.
The incident, which was
filmed and viewed by millions
around the world, sparked a
summer of nationwide protests
and forced a national reckon-
ing on issues of race, policing
and social justice.
Chauvin, a 19-year veteran
of the Minneapolis Police De-
partment before he was fired in
May, is charged with second-
and third-degree murder and
second-degree manslaughter
in Floyd’s death.
While potential jurors being
interviewed for the case were
told by Chauvin’s defense at-
torney that it was “not about
race” or “broader social issues,”
few observers believe race
won’t shape the trial, the most
high-profile police brutality
case since the 1991 beating of
Rodney King by four white Los
Angeles police officers.
Many Black Americans will
be watching to see what justice
means after seeing so many
cases in which police officers
have largely been acquitted or
gone uncharged in the killing
of Black men and women such
as Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor
and Daniel Prude.
“In terms of public con-
sciousness, this is all about
race,” said Paul Butler, a former
federal prosecutor who teaches
Jim Mone/AP file
A group of protesters march in the snow around the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on
March 15, in the second week of jury selection for the trial for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chau-
vin. Chauvin is charged with murder in the death of George Floyd during an arrest in May.
criminal law and race relations
at Georgetown University Law
Center. “The irony is that race
may not come up in the actual
courtroom during the trial.
That’s a strategic decision that
each side will have to make.”
But even if race is not a sub-
ject that is raised by the pros-
ecution or defense, experts
believe it will almost certainly
shape how the jury perceives
testimony and evidence in the
case and ultimately the delib-
erations and verdict — in part
because of the surprising diver-
sity of the jury itself.
Diverse jury
Of the 12 jurors and three
alternates seated in the case,
there is one Black woman, two
multiracial women, three white
men, three Black men and six
white women. Four jurors are
in their 20s, three are in their
30s, three are in their 40s, four
are in their 50s and one is in
their 60s.
Hennepin County, where
Minneapolis is located, is 74%
white, according to Census Bu-
reau data.
“This jury is much more
diverse compared to what we
usually see,” said Mary Mori-
arty, former chief public de-
fender in Hennepin County.
Over the past year, Henne-
pin County juries, which have
been dominated by white res-
idents, were even more so be-
cause of the disproportionate
impact of the coronavirus on
communities of color, Mori-
arty said. More people of color
were excused from jury duty
during the pandemic because
of economic or employment
hardships or responsibilities at
home.
But Moriarty said the ongo-
ing coronavirus pandemic may
also have contributed to the
makeup of the Chauvin jury
in other ways, pointing to the
large number of young people
on the jury, including people of
color. The pool also was wid-
ened to more than 300 people
— about six times the number
usually summoned for a mur-
der trial, and older jurors were
given the opportunity to opt
out because of concerns about
the pandemic.
Many experts also cred-
ited the diversity of the jury
to Hennepin County District
Court Judge Peter Cahill, who
is overseeing the case, and his
application of a more modern
standard of what juror impar-
tiality means in a community
where virtually everyone has
watched the video of Floyd’s
death, knows something about
the case and has grappled with
questions about race because
of it.
In past cases, defense attor-
neys frequently have removed
jurors for acknowledging ra-
cial injustice or even having
their own lived experiences be-
ing Black in the United States,
claiming it compromised jurors’
impartiality, said Sonali Chakra-
varti, a Wesleyan University
professor who studies the role of
race in jury selection.
“In this case, people were al-
Police long accused of racism
The debate over race and
how it might figure in Chau-
vin’s trial has been playing out
among those concerned that
the diversity of the jury doesn’t
mean people understand the
lived experience of Black Min-
neapolis residents who are po-
liced by a department long ac-
cused of racism and excessive
force against minorities.
Two of the Black men picked
for the jury said they were im-
migrants who live in the sub-
urbs and had never interacted
with Minneapolis Police. Both
said they thought police offi-
cers made communities safer
and oppose efforts to defund
the police. Still, one of the men
— identified in court as Juror
No. 27 — said he had been af-
fected by the video of Floyd’s
death, telling his wife, “It could
have been me.”
Some in the Black commu-
nity have accused the prose-
cution and defense of looking
for a certain kind of Black per-
son to sit on the jury and not
people who are “empathetic
to what George Floyd experi-
enced at the hands of Derek
Chauvin and the other officers
who killed him,” said Nekima
Levy Armstrong, a civil rights
attorney and longtime Min-
neapolis activist who leads the
Racial Justice Network.
Activists have called out the
elimination of another Black
man who said he experienced
racism frequently. The man re-
called how Minneapolis Police
often drove by scenes of shoot-
ings in his South Minneapolis
neighborhood with their win-
dows down, playing the song
“Another One Bites the Dust.”
But he strongly insisted that he
could be impartial in the case
and wanted to serve to better
understand what justice means
for people who are Black.
“As a Black man, you see a
lot of Black people get killed
and no one’s held accountable
for it, and you wonder why or
what was the decisions,” the
man told Chauvin’s attorney,
Eric Nelson. “So, with this,
maybe I’ll be in the room to
know why.”
Nelson used a defense strike
to eliminate the man from the
jury, claiming he had “bias” to-
ward the Minneapolis Police.
Even if race is not explicitly
mentioned at trial, jurors tend
to view witnesses and evidence
based on their own experi-
ences and beliefs about how
the world works. In December,
the court mailed jurors a 16-
page questionnaire soliciting
their extensive views, includ-
ing on issues such as racial in-
equality, the policing of Black
people and movements such as
Black Lives Matter, which led
to hours of meticulous ques-
tioning during jury selection.
Chauvin, 45, faces up to 40
years in prison on the murder
charges, but could serve as few
as 10 based on state guidelines
and the judge’s discretion.
Prosecutors are expected to
use their opening statement to
tell the story of what happened
to Floyd, 46, on May 25, 2020,
as he was confronted by police
while sitting in a parked car at
the corner of 38th Street and
Chicago Avenue in Minneap-
olis. Chauvin was among four
officers who responded to a
convenience store clerk’s 911
call about a counterfeit $20 bill
that a customer had allegedly
passed. The other three of-
ficers who responded to the
scene — Alexander Kueng,
Thomas Lane and Tou Thao
— are charged with aiding and
abetting and are scheduled to
be tried separately in August.
They also were fired.
OBITUARY
Michael E Phillips
March 11, 1947 - February 12, 2021
Michael Earl Phillips passed away at
the age of 73 on February 12, 2021.
Mike Phillips was born to Robert
E. Phillips and Bett y Jean Hibbs, on
March 11, 1947, in the old hospital
on 2nd Street in Prineville, Oregon.
Mike was the middle child of two
brothers. His older brother Fred and
younger brother Rob were his most
cherished heroes, his best friends,
and supporters (They all loved
to ride motorcycles and horses
together).
Mike enjoyed going for Sunday
car rides into the country with his
family. His mom and dad would
help the boys in the hay fi elds in
the evenings and weekends and
the boys would hunt together
whenever possible. He also had
found memories growing up in
Prineville, Oregon and spending
many days with Delbert Beal riding
and showing his animals at diff erent events that eventually led to his work with catt le.
“My mom and dad taught me the value of family and hard work and the importance
of kindness to others who are less fortunate,” Mike wrote in a journal. Family was very
important to Mike and he rarely missed meeti ng up with family for reunions, to celebrate
special celebrati ons, or to off er his support when loved ones needed it the most.
Aft er graduati ng from Crook County High School in 1965 in Prineville, Oregon. He att ended
Central Oregon Community College and took business courses in additi on to being cast in
the musical Camelot. He thought that was a real “hoot” as he admitt edly couldn’t carry a
musical note in a bucket if he had to.
Mike spent three years in the Army from 1966 - 1969 with his fi rst tour in Germany and
last eleven months in Vietnam in additi on to a short ti me in Panama. Mike married his
high school sweetheart Esther Ann Williams. Mike knew the Williams family most of his
life. However, he didn’t start dati ng Esther unti l the summer of his junior year in high
school. Their fi rst date was at the Prineville Dam watching fi reworks on the Fourth of
July. Mike will admit that the wedding proposal didn’t go as planned, but she said “yes”,
and the rest is history. Mike and Esther moved to Seatt le, WA and were married for 41
years when his loving wife passed away in 2011 aft er batt ling breast cancer for two years.
Mike’s love for Esther was eminent as shown by him bringing fresh fl owers weekly and
visiti ng her resti ng place for years. Mike was also preceded in death by his father, Robert
Phillips, and his mother, Bett y Jean Phillips.
He leaves his legacy to his two daughters and their spouses: Alicia and Mandy Phillips,
Andrea and Carlos Ruiz. Mike aka “Poppa” is also survived by his four grandchildren:
Keira and Dru Phillips, Catalina and Evelyn Ruiz. He loved them all fi ercely and taught
them the importance of hard work and play. Mike also once wrote that he wants to be
remembered as he remembers his dad - a faithful husband, a great friend and dad. He
always gave more than he took, and he never expected more from you than you were
willing to give.
A private graveside service will be held Saturday March 27th in Seatt le due to COVID
restricti ons.