Welcome to KnowThis Live. I'm Zinhle Essamuah. This week,
the trial of Derek Chauvin began and eye witnesses to the death of George Floyd
have been presenting emotional testimony against former officer Chauvin.
The trial comes after a year of racial reckoning across the country,
brought on by Floyd's death. Today I'm joined by the Floyd family attorney,
Justin Miller. Thank you so much for being here with us.
Thank you for having me.
Yes. And I want to start with something you've said,
you said this trial is about America being America for all Americans,
not just some of us, all Americans, and it can be that way.
It should be that way. Aside from justice for George Floyd,
what is at the heart of this trial and for the country after a year of what has
been a very intense racial reckoning?
Right. So,
so I think systemic racism in America has been a problem since the beginning of
this country and to defeat it, we have to recognize it.
And this, uh,
the whole situation with George Floyd and the protest that occurred and the way
the world, you know, kind of stood up and,
and took note of it really is our chance to kind of fight it.
So I don't want people to get caught up in the weeds of the case because it
is a very important case. And it's very important to Mr. Floyd, the country,
Minneapolis, and his family,
but there is a bigger problem of systemic racism in America.
And I think that this is an opportunity to try to tackle some of that too.
And you've also said that this isn't the case of George Floyd,
this isn't George Floyd's trial, it's Derek Chauvin's trial.
What do you mean by that? Why are you making that clear distinction?
Yeah, I watch the news and I listened to the radio and I just hear,
and I hear people talking, you know, in my everyday life and they say, 'Hey,
the George Floyd trial is about to start. The George Floyd,
this and the George Floyd that.' And I, and I correct people. Then I tell them,
listen, George Floyd is the victim.
And I don't care what you think about Mr. Floyd, about his life,
about how he carried himself, about the things that he's done in life,
he is still the victim in this case. So as the victim,
he is not on trial. And we need to remember that, uh, Derek Chauvin is on trial.
And as the person on trial,
we need to say his name because he is the person on trial and everyone should
remember that.
And it's interesting to me that you said earlier, right?
That racism will be at the core of this case as well.
I know that the jury selection was a long process and it's one of the most
diverse juries we've seen.
It's actually more diverse than the city of Minneapolis itself.
There's one black woman, two multi-racial women, three white men,
three black men, and six white women all under the age, or excuse me, not all,
seven are under the age of 40 years old.
What role do you think then racism is going to play when it comes to the jurors
making their decision?
I hope it doesn't play a role at all. Um,
and I believe in the system and I think that the, um, the jury,
um, that's seated now has an opportunity to do something really good and, um,
really let the country in the world know that we are headed in the right
direction. So I am from Georgia and from the deep South,
and I have seen in courtrooms, uh, racism, rear its ugly head in many,
many cases that I've worked on.
So I am always skeptical and always just a little nervous that it could
pop up in a case. So in this case, you know,
I want to make sure that it doesn't pop up. Um,
but it's always there and it's always in front of us.
And so we just have to be vigilant to make sure it doesn't occur.
And it stands out to me also,
you're saying you hope racism does not play a factor and it sounds like racism
from the jurors. I wonder if, uh,
systemic racism will be used as an argument by the prosecution as to
why this incident, this fatal incident happened to Floyd.
I don't think that they will bring race into it in that way. Uh, and I wouldn't,
if I were them. I am a member of the civil team, um,
and we handled and settled the civil portion of the case a couple of weeks ago
with George Floyd. And so for the criminal trial,
I am not involved in the tactic or anything of that nature that they're using to
prosecute the case.
Having said that I did use to do criminal law and I would not bring
race into it because this case absent of race, um, is a,
is a clear violation of Mr. Floyd's civil rights. And, uh, and, and,
and Derek Chauvin,
after having been charged with second degree murder and second degree
manslaughter and murder, uh, third degree murder,
one of these should stick and he definitely should be convicted of one of these
charges, if not all of them.
And that incident you're describing was caught on video.
A lot of that video is being shown during the trial and it's very graphic.
And I imagine particularly for the family of George Floyd,
it's reliving that trauma over again.
What in your view does justice look like for them?
Well, that,
that is a very difficult question because what is justice when you've lost a
family member? Yeah. You can never get that person back. Um,
we started this case and we were only representing George Floyd's,
daughter Gianna. Uh, now we're representing the entire family with Mr. Crump.
Um, you know,
justice is very hard when you speak of that for something like this,
if your loved one, your father, your brother, your, your, your uncle, and you,
you know, if that person died, there is no justice.
You're never going to feel like you were made whole from that death.
They could give you a a hundred million dollars and put the person in jail
forever and you still won't feel like you had justice. So for me,
and I think for the family, you know, getting that civil case done, that's good.
That's going to be a deterrent. And it's also going to help his family,
especially his daughter for years to come and then getting the person who
murdered him,
the people who murdered him locked away for a very long time is going to be big
as well.
So we just hope that those two things together can make the family feel a little
more complete because we know they're never going to feel like, um,
they're going to get complete justice out of this.
And with many similar cases that we've seen,
unfortunately in the country before,
we've seen no conviction for those officers.
How are you bracing for a decision that goes against
perhaps the desire of the family?
Right. So as an American, um, as a Black man,
I am used to it. I am ready for it, and I am prepared for it.
But as an attorney and as an officer of the court, I want to,
you know, be optimistic and to think that the people,
the jury is going to do the right thing.
And I think that they will do the right thing in this case. I mean,
the evidence is overwhelming, uh, overwhelming evidence.
So it's not just a wave of people or, or a wave of, uh,
the country feeling like this should go a certain way.
The evidence is there and that's, what's really important in a criminal trial.
And you've said that it seems that the defense is trying to 'assassinate
Floyd's character.' And there have also been calls as if you've talked about to
call this the Derrick Chauvin case and not the George Floyd case.
Can you clarify that for us specifically the assassination of character as you
described?
Especially because this has been mentioned in the past similar cases as well.
Right. So in a criminal case, um,
when you don't have the facts on your side, you go to character assassination.
That is the only way to get the jury to lean in your favor. Uh,
the jury are just people just like you and me. So, you know,
if you tell a person, 'Hey, this, this guy,
this victim is not worthy of,
of you finding this other person guilty.' If you tell a jury that
sometimes you will sway someone and with a criminal trial,
you only need one person to, uh, to believe that.
So the defense is definitely going to slander George Floyd's character.
They're going to talk about everything bad that he did in his entire life.
What I would focus the jury on,
I was the prosecuting attorney in the courtroom on this case,
is that none of that matters.
And I'm sure that they will focus the jury on none of that matters.
A police officer is not a judge, jury and executioner in this country.
And so it doesn't matter what George Floyd did, what his background was.
None of that matters.
The only thing that matters is what happened that day for that 9 minutes and 29
seconds as we know it to be now.
And briefly,
I know one legal expert also characterized the defense's approach as
scapegoating eye witnesses in the crowd. What do you make of that?
Well, I mean, it's the exact same thing, right?
There are several people who saw this and I mean, the whole world saw it.
The people in the crowd, they were just like you and I,
they saw what was happening as well.
So their testimony and the facts that they saw are hard to dispute.
I mean, listening to some of those things,
listening to the MMA fighter and the firefighter and the young ladies
who were under age, uh, listening to all of them,
it paints a clear picture of what happened.
And so the defense does not have anything to dispute that.
The only thing they can do is dispute those people and why those people would
have a reason to say what they're saying. Um,
so we knew this was going to happen from the beginning.
And I think the prosecution is prepared for that.
And wrapping up. I know that while the trial is not over,
it seems the city of Minneapolis has been bracing for impact.
I know there've been talk about, uh, the, uh,
the heightened security in the area. Given the emotions around the case,
what's your message to the public?
Whether or not there is a guilty or non guilty verdict.
Well, I would say that the public should, should wait, take everything in,
um, watch what's happening, um,
be knowledgeable about the facts and about what's going on in the case.
However, you know, this, this thing,
this movement is not just, um, for America,
this is a worldwide movement. Racism, systemic racism has to stop.
So I would say the public needs to be vigilant and they need to let the
legislators and their police departments and the people in power know that this
is not acceptable and it will never be acceptable again in this country or any
other country for that matter.
Thank you so much. And I I'd want to end,
I know you talk and work closely with the family.
What do they want to be remembered when it comes to George Floyd?
You know, the family would really want everyone to just focus and remember that,
regardless of what you think about George Floyd personally, he had a family,
he was a father. Um, he was a person,
not just a meme or a picture on a mural. He was an actual person.
He had friends.
He had people that loved him regardless of what mistakes he made in his life.
And I think that the family would like that message to get out, uh,
about George Floyd, just as much as anything else. Well, thank you so much.
Justin Miller family attorney, um, for the George Floyd family.
Thanks for your time. No problem. Thank you for having me. Yeah.
And thanks to everyone for tuning in. This has been KnowThis Live,
I'm Zinhle Essamuah.