2nd degree murder requires that the prosecution prove that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death while intentionally inflicting “substantial bodily harm.”
If Jurors think the act itself – the body-weighted knee to the neck – is a dangerous act capable of inflicting substantial bodily harm, they’d be right in line with Chauvin’s training, “Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous,” according to the official Criminal Complaint.
Minnesota law authorizes officers to use deadly force in three situations: 1) to protect the officer from death or great bodily harm; 2) to arrest or capture a person the officer reasonably believes committed a felony involving deadly force; or 3) to arrest or capture a person the officer reasonably believes committed a non-deadly felony and will cause death or great bodily harm if the apprehension is delayed.
Since the law on self-defense singularly focuses on whether it was necessary at the time of the killing to use deadly force for the three reasons quoted above, the question for jurors thus becomes who was Floyd threatening with “death or great bodily harm” for the 173 seconds he was unresponsive?
These future jurors have no idea how powerful and long-lasting their answers to these questions will be: They have the final say-so about what a “reasonable peace officer” in the same circumstances views as a “necessary act” in cases like this.
