12 jurors about to decide Derek Chauvin's fate after closing arguments

Jurors in downtown Minneapolis are about to hear competing arguments Monday morning about whether Derek Chauvin did or did not kill George Floyd late last spring, and then they will head into deliberations until they reach unanimous verdicts on each count.

The trial of the fired Minneapolis police officer is scheduled to resume about 9 a.m. before Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who has been presiding over the case since March 8, when defense and prosecution lawyers started screening jurors.

Prosecutor Steve Schleicher goes first and will argue that Chauvin's pinning of Floyd on the pavement at 38th and Chicago robbed the 46-year-old man of oxygen until he died as a bystander recorded the restraint on her cellphone and shared it with the world on social media.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson will explain that Floyd died from a host of factors including cardiac arrest, underlying health problems, illicit drug use and possibly poisonous carbon monoxide from a nearby police squad car. Nelson's overall mission is to convince the jurors that there is enough reasonable doubt to acquit the 45-year-old Chauvin of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The prosecution then has the option to make a brief rebuttal to the defense's contentions. That task will fall to prosecutor Jerry Blackwell.

Attorneys cannot present new evidence during final arguments and are prohibited from sneaking in new arguments. The lawyers can object if they detect the other side is straying beyond what's already been told to the jury.

"Most attorneys are pretty good about adhering to that," said David Schultz, law professor at the University of Minnesota and at Mitchell Hamline Law School in St. Paul. "Cahill is pretty strict, but he's going to give them as much leeway as possible."

After final arguments, Cahill will instruct the jurors on how they should apply the law on each count alleged against the 45-year-old defendant. Attorneys interviewed said jurors often do not absorb instructions all that well, and their importance tends to be more about a judge giving them correctly in order to not inspire defense appeals.

"There have been lots of times judges have given the wrong instructions," Schultz said. "Getting the instructions right is really important. ... This is the judge summarizing the law. And if the judge gets it wrong, the repercussions are enormous."

The Minnesota Judicial Branch, in its jury handbook, does its best to encourage jurors to avoid tuning out the instructions from the bench.

"Please listen carefully," this section of the handbook reads in part. "Remember that you are governed by the law as the judge explains it to you. Do not attempt to change it or ignore it, even if you disagree with the law."

After the instructions and before sending the jury into deliberations, Cahill will excuse two of the 14 jurors who heard the case as alternates. Which two end up being sent home is left to the judge, Schultz said.

One option is to dismiss the last two chosen, "but it doesn't have to be," he said. "He could draw straws or something like that."

Once in deliberations, the jurors' first task is to select a foreperson whose duties include ensuring that each juror has a chance to participate in deliberations and that the issues that arose during the trial are contemplated completely. They will have a laptop computer and monitor to review the substantial amount of video and other exhibits presented over the past few weeks. What they won't have is a transcript of the testimony. Instead, the jurors must rely on their collective notes and memories.

Jurors are likely to have questions for the court during deliberations. Rather than have the jury return to the courtroom for an answer, this communication will be done by video conference out of caution amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Deliberations for this case are being done at an undisclosed location, presumably not in the Hennepin County Government Center.

The jurors will remain sequestered throughout their deliberations and until the verdicts are read in court before a worldwide livestream audience.

Three other fired officers who assisted in Floyd being restrained stomach-down for more than 9 minutes — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — are scheduled to be tried in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.

paul.walsh@startribune.com • 612-673-4482

Twitter: @walshpj