A chilling turn is taking place with the Chauvin Murder Trial. A witness for the defense will have the full weight of the Maryland Attorney General’s office bear down to attempt to crush him. They are attempting to discredit him, dishonor him so that there will be few future defense witnesses willing to offer testimony in unpopular cases? For the remaining police officers involved in the Derek Chauvin case, the message is clear. Defense witnesses will be few and far between.
Even worse we learn 431 Doctors from around the country chimed in to the AG… “conclusions were outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice and all of his previous work should be questioned.” Really? Did they watch the full trial? Did they read the autopsy and read the testimony at trial? I did.
Setting aside whether Chauvin acted properly and provided timely assistance, the question is how did Floyd die? Did Chauvin kill Floyd? That is what forensic pathologists do. They examine dead people.
The news reports:
Dr. David Fowler, Maryland’s chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019, was a key defense witness for Chauvin, who was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes last May.
During the four-week trial, Fowler testified that the primary cause of Floyd’s death was a sudden heart rhythm disturbance during police restraint due to underlying heart disease, contradicting several experts who said Floyd had died due to a lack of oxygen.
We will get back to that but let’s finish with the predicate that is about to try to destroy and defame defense witness one Dr. Fowler.
The news report continues:
A former medical examiner who served as a witness in Derek Chauvin‘s murder trial will have 17 years’ worth of his in-custody death reports independently reviewed after he testified that the cop was not responsible for George Floyd‘s death, officials have announced.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh made the review announcement Friday, a day after receiving a letter from former Washington DC medical examiner Roger A. Mitchell that was signed by 431 doctors from around the country.
….
The letter said Fowler’s testimony and conclusions were outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice and all of his previous work should be questioned, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Frosh later released a statement in agreement, saying: ‘It is appropriate for independent experts to review reports issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) regarding deaths in custody.’
He said his office is already in talks with the governor’s office about how to coordinate the review.
The investigation would call into question the validity of all of Fowler’s in-custody death reports during his tenure, which includes the deaths of Anton Black, a 19-year-old who died in police custody in Greensboro in 2018.
(Surely let us challenge all police shooting autopsies.)
More at Daily Mail
I posted previously a lengthy post examining in detail the trial and medical evidence. Let me highlight a few facts. Know that Chauvin did not have one medical expert testify on his behalf. Just the Forensic Pathologist who reviewed the autopsy.. Chauven – Floyd: Over what? ‘A little bit of money’
Apparent Facts for the prosecution?
Twice a lethal dose of Fentanyl with assorted accessory drugs on board a man dying can have nothing to do with cause of death.
That substantial heart disease including a 90 percent blockage could not have played a roll.
The autopsy report from Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office concludes the cause of death was “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.” That conclusion, death due to heart failure, differs from the one reached by an independent examiner hired by the Floyd family; that report listed the cause of death as “asphyxiation from sustained pressure.”
That was the Prosecutor’s own medical examiner Dr. Andrew Baker. Prosecution would retain two additional Forensic Pathologists to refute some of their own Dr. Baker’s testimony – (remember he is the one who signed the death certificate) and Chauvin’s defense witness Dr. David Fowler who is now under attack.
Most importantly George Floyd’s arterial blood gas oxygen level after he arrived at the hospital was 98 percent! Normal. At the time of his death. How was it that he could have a normal oxygen level after being transported “flat lined” to the hospital and yet the cause of death has been asphyxiation? Lack of oxygen?
The question of excessive force used:
Autopsy: No areas of subcutaneous hemorrhage, soft tissue contusion (bruising), or other occult injury are found in the posterior neck, right and left lateral neck, shoulders, back, flanks, or buttocks
Layer by layer dissection of the anterior strap muscles of the neck discloses no areas of contusion (bruising) or hemorrhage within the musculature.
Use of placing Floyd in the prone position:
It was testified that placing individuals in the prone position – face down – does not necessarily cause death. Studies were introduced as evidence that obese individuals could possibly be at risk. In fact, Covid patients with reduced breathing capacity in the ICU were often placed in the prone position.
Floyd had complained “I can’t breathe” at the very beginning of the encounter with Chauvin.
Note contributing factors:
Testimony of the girlfriend at trial indicated that just moments previous to the incident with Chauvin, Floyd had a “white foam” at the corners of his month. The same type foam and location as at the time of a drug overdose previously in March which necessitated his hospitalization, I paraphrase.
Several pills were found in Floyds car as well as in the police car. The pills tested indicated it was Fentanyl. The pill with his DNA was in the police car. Keep in mind he was already handcuffed at the time he was placed in the police car.
Lastly, how could Chauvin be convicted of all three charges each of which require dissimilar facts? Perhaps Manslaughter? Perhaps but keep in mind
Alt. juror in Chauvin trial on mob: ‘I was concerned they would come to my house’
Regardless of your take on a jury finding former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, it would be difficult to deny that the men and women sitting on that jury panel fully understood what the consequences would be if they voted for an acquittal.
And the Judge? What about him and the sentencing? The future cops on trial?
Finally and even more chilling, will witnesses for future defenses be intimated by the unlimited budgets of D.A’s offices that want to teach a lesson about Justice in this new world in which we now live.
For more details and autopsy repots read my previous post:
Chauven – Floyd: Over what? ‘A little bit of money’
This is the best the swamp has to offer today
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