Minneapolis boards up as Chauvin trial enters final phase and shooting of two National Guard in city

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Minneapolis was transformed into a fortress over the weekend, as a tense city braced for a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin – the white police officer accused of murdering George Floyd – this week. 

More than 3,000 members of the National Guard have been drafted into the city, in addition to 1,100 officers from public safety agencies across the state as part of what has been termed Operation Safety Net.

In the early hours of Sunday, two members of the National Guard were injured in a drive-by shooting.

There were no serious injuries, said Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke, but he added that the incident ‘highlights the volatility and tension in our communities right now.’

A Monmouth University poll released on Thursday found that 63 per cent of Americans believe that acquittals across the board for Chauvin would be a negative step for race relations.

Thirty-seven per cent said that if he were found guilty of murder, it would be a positive step.

Police unions, and conservatives more broadly, have warned against high-profile cases being judged on bigger issues outside the courtroom, such as race relations in general, rather than the evidence put forth in the proceedings.

The tension has been heightened by the killing less than 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man shot by a white police officer, Kimberly Potter, at a traffic stop on April 11. She has been charged with manslaughter.

In addition, a white Chicago police officer, Eric Stillman, was revealed last week to have killed a 13-year-old black boy, Adam Toledo – sparking further protests in Minneapolis, and nationwide.

Chicago was particularly concerned about possible protests, following Toledo’s killing.

Demonstrations were held on Thursday and Friday calling for justice for the 13-year-old.

Activists gathered outside the house of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and police in Chicago are readying for another tense week.

In New York City, too, protests against police brutality were staged.

Barricades were up once more around police precincts and demonstrators marched through the city’s streets. 

Throughout the weekend communities in the Minnesota city echoed with the sound of hammering, as shops and businesses were boarded up.

Some business owners have hired private security firms, The Washington Post reported, at a cost of up to $3,000 a day.

The area around Hennepin County Government Center, where Chauvin’s trial is being held, has already been fortified with concrete barricades and multiple layers of high-security fencing topped by barbed wire. Chauvin’s trial began with opening statements on March 29, and the jurors heard 13 days of evidence.

Chauvin, 45, who declined to testify in his own defense, faces charges of manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder in the death of Floyd, 46, in May last year.

Prosecutors will paint the picture that Chauvin recklessly squeezed the life from Floyd as he and two other officers pinned him to the street for nine minutes, 29 seconds outside a corner market, despite Floyd’s repeated cries that he couldn’t breathe — actions they say warrant conviction not just for manslaughter but also on two murder counts. 

The defense will argue that Floyd put himself at risk by swallowing fentanyl and methamphetamine, then resisted officers trying to arrest him — factors which compounded his vulnerability to a diseased heart and raise sufficient doubt that Chauvin should be acquitted.

The attorneys aren’t limited by time in their closing arguments, though legal experts say overlong arguments risk losing jurors’ attention and may be less effective. 

Prosecutors Steve Schleicher and Jerry Blackwell will share the closing, with Schleicher leading off and Blackwell coming on for the last-word rebuttal of defense attorney Eric Nelson’s closing.    

Video played a huge role at trial, both in buttressing the expert testimony and in driving home the emotional impact of Floyd’s anguish and death. Prosecutors can re-play video during their closings, and experts say they expect it.

Guilty verdicts must be unanimous, which means Nelson needs to raise doubt in the minds of just a single juror on the various counts. His closing is certain to return to the themes of his cross-examination of prosecution witnesses and the brief defense case he mounted. 

Nelson is also likely to question perhaps the strongest single part of the state’s case — the video of Floyd’s arrest, including bystander Darnella Frazier’s video that largely established public perceptions of events. Nelson argued that camera angles can be deceptive, and used other views to suggest to jurors that Chauvin’s knee wasn’t on Floyd’s neck at all times.

‘If I was Nelson, I’d do a lot of things, because a lot of things need to be done,’ Joe Friedberg, a local defense attorney not involved in the case, said. 

‘He’s in desperate trouble here.’  

Second-degree murder requires prosecutors to prove Chauvin intended to harm Floyd. Third-degree murder requires proof that Chauvin’s actions were ’eminently dangerous’ and done with indifference to loss of life. Second-degree manslaughter requires jurors to believe that he caused Floyd’s death through negligence and consciously took the chance of causing severe injury or death.

Each count carries a different maximum sentence: 40 years for second-degree unintentional murder, 25 years for third-degree murder, and 10 years for second-degree manslaughter. Sentencing guidelines call for far less time, including 12 1/2 years on either murder count.

After the defense rested its case in Chauvin’s trial, NAACP president Derrick Johnson said: ‘What we’ve all witnessed throughout the trial thus far confirmed what we saw in the video. Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.

‘As we turn to closing arguments on Monday, the nation waits on justice.’

On Friday workers were seen erecting a large fence around a post office, and adding a wooden barricade to a hotel that had been boarded up weeks earlier.

Minneapolis Public Schools, which only recently resumed in-person teaching amid the COVID-19 pandemic, announced that it would return to remote learning from Wednesday, in anticipation of the verdict.

The massive show of force is designed to avoid a repeat of last summer’s unrest, which saw violence across Minneapolis, with the burning of a police station and an estimated $350 million in damage to buildings and businesses.

Yet many feel the response to protests have been heavy-handed.

Mike Elliott, the mayor of Brooklyn Center – where Wright was killed – and the city council last week called on law enforcement to dial back their response, including their use of chemical irritants.

‘We have to approach policing in a different way, in a more humane way,’ Elliott said.

He and others also criticized the mass arrests of mostly peaceful protesters, including another 136 people on Friday night.

Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson, one of the leaders of Operation Safety Net, accused the mayor of causing ‘significant confusion’ by questioning police procedures and asked if the city no longer wanted their help.

The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has defended the increased security presence, and said in a briefing last week that his priority was the ‘safety and security’ of the city and its residents.

‘This is a hard time for our city,’ Frey said at the briefing.

‘These times are tense. They are traumatic, and they’re going to need all of us working together in every respect.’

Ted Cruz slams Maxine Waters for ‘encouraging riots and violence’ after she called on BLM protesters to get ‘more confrontational’ – hours before two National Guardsmen were injured in drive-by shooting in Minneapolis

By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com

Senator Ted Cruz has accused Democrats of ‘actively encouraging riots & violence’ after California Representative Maxine Waters joined protesters in Minnesota on Saturday night, and urged the crowd to ‘get more confrontational’. 

Cruz and others slammed Waters for her remarks in Minneapolis on Saturday night — made just hours before two National Guardsmen tasked with keeping the peace there were injured in a drive-by shooting.

Waters traveled to Minneapolis the weekend before closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin, charged with murdering George Floyd on May 25. She also spoke amid protests in response to the killing last week of Daunte Wright, a black 20-year-old shot and killed at a traffic stop by a white police officer, Kimberly Potter. 

 ‘I am not happy that we have talked about police reform for so long,’ Waters said, demanding a guilty verdict in the Chauvin trial and adding: ‘If we don’t [get it], we cannot go away. We’ve got to stay on the street.’

She added that protesters needed ‘get more active, more confrontational’ and they should ignore the curfew in place. 

Hours after Waters’ passionate speech, a Minnesota National Guard and Minneapolis police team were fired upon in a drive-by shooting.

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The team was providing neighborhood security in Minneapolis when, at about 4.19am local time, a light colored SUV drove by and blasted shots at an occupied National Guard vehicle.

No team members were seriously injured, though two National Guard members suffered minor injuries: One was injured by shattered glass and taken to a local hospital, while the other suffered only superficial injuries. 

Cruz accused Waters and fellow Democrats of seeking to ‘to tear us apart.’ 

‘Why is Maxine Waters traveling to a different state trying to incite a riot? What good can come from this?’ asked Lauren Boebert, representative for Colorado.

Fellow Colorado representative Ken Buck said: ‘Why is a sitting member of Congress encouraging protesters to get ‘confrontational?” 

Arizona Republican Andy Biggs added: ‘The Radical Left don’t care if your towns are burning, if there’s violence in your streets, or if the police are too defunded to defend their communities. 

‘As long as the Left appeases their anti-America base, their job is done.’ 

And Marjorie Taylor Greene, congresswoman for Georgia, called for her to be expelled from Congress.  

‘As a sitting United States Congresswoman @MaxineWaters threatened a jury demanding a guilty verdict and threatened violence if Chauvin is found not guilty. This is also an abuse of power. #ExpelMaxineWaters’

She called Waters ‘a danger to our society.’  

On Twitter, others joined in the outrage at Waters’ remarks. 

‘Of course she’ll get away with saying that while anyone else would’ve been thrown in jail,’ Rick Santella tweeted.

Another user tweeted, ‘Good grief lady, leave get out of here.’

One person also accused Waters of ‘stirring people up again with her calls for violence.’  

Waters is planning on staying in town until Monday.

According to CBS Minnesota, officials stated that there was a brief altercation between reporters and protesters as Waters was leaving on Saturday, the first reports of any skirmishes.

The Pioneer Press reports demonstrators gathered Saturday afternoon at the home of Washington County Attorney Pete Orput, responsible for the second-degree manslaughter charges against Potter.

The protesters stood outside of Orput’s home before marching through is neighborhood in Stillwater.

Black Lives Matter activist Nekima Levy Armstrong said that Orput left his home briefly to engage in a conversation with protesters. 

Protests have also been taking place in Chicago following the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, as well as New York City and across the rest of the United States.

On Friday night, many protests across the nation started off peacefully before sporadic clashes broke out between Black Lives Matters protesters and the police. 

University of Minnesota medical students and doctors also marched on the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Saturday, a day after it was the site of most of the night’s unrest. 

Peaceful protests on Friday devolved into clashes between protesters and police, with flash bangs and pepper spray utilized by the cops.

There originally was not expected to be a curfew for the first time in several days, before one was suddenly imposed during the night’s demonstrations. 

Media members were briefly detained and 136 people were arrested. 

A temporary restraining order was filed to prevent police from arresting or harming journalists.

‘Following feedback from media, and in light of a recent temporary restraining order (TRO) filed in federal court, MSP will not photograph journalists or their credentials,’ the Minnesota State Patrol said in a statement.  

According to the Washington Post, several protesters were arrested on Saturday night. It’s unclear why they were arrested, as the protest of about a hundred was drawing to a close.

Earlier in the day, there were peaceful protests across the nation, including Columbus, Ohio, and Philadelphia.

According to NBC Philadelphia, crowds in that city walked through City Center towards City Hall peacefully in a protest that lasted around five hours.

Nevertheless, some businesses did board up and 1,000 National Guard troops were preemptively deployed.