Derek Chauvin’s attorney wants to bring up George Floyd’s history of drug use and a previous arrest as evidence in the trial, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Eric Nelson cited circumstances in a May 2019 arrest of Floyd, when Floyd ignored the police, ingested pills and had to be physically removed from a vehicle, the AP reported. Nelson argued the discovery of drugs in the car Floyd used and the squad car into which officers tried to place Floyd, should make his 2019 arrest admissible in court.
However, prosecutors criticized the move as an attempt by Chauvin’s lawyer to smear Floyd, who died in May 2020 in police custody. Police had used an immobilization technique, which included Chauvin’s knee against Floyd’s neck. Later that month, an autopsy showed Floyd had lethal amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.
Michael Brandt, a local defense attorney, cited the new evidence as a potential way to show that Floyd had a “propensity for ingesting pills when being arrested” and that he knew it could be a way to stay out of jail, AP reported.
When Floyd was arrested in May 2019, police found cocaine and opioid pills. Paramedics warned Floyd at the time his blood pressure was extremely high and he was at risk for a heart attack or stroke, AP reported.
“The similarities are incredible. The exact same behavior in two incidents, almost one year apart,” Nelson said, according to the AP.
Prosecutor Matthew Frank wants the judge to dismiss the 2019 incident and said it was prejudicial, according to the AP. Frank contends the defense wants to use it as a smear against Floyd and believes the case should focus solely on how Floyd was handled by the officers in May 2020.
“What these officers were dealing with is what they were responsible for,” Frank said. “What is relevant to this case is what they knew at the scene at this time.” (RELATED: Judge Reinstates Third-Degree Murder Charge In Derek Chauvin Trial)
Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder under statute § 609.19(2)(1) which states, “Unintentional murders. Whoever does either of the following is guilty of unintentional murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years,” according to the Houston Courant.