Derek Chauvin's witnesses include former Maryland medical examiner being sued over 'chillingly simil
Source: Washington Post
Derek Chauvin’s witnesses include former Maryland medical examiner being sued over ‘chillingly similar’ case
By Mark Berman and Ovetta Wiggins
April 14, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
When the video of George Floyd gasping for air under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin emerged last year, it told a story that was painfully familiar to Anton Black’s family.
Black encountered police on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the fall of 2018, when officers responding to a call about a possible kidnapping wrestled the 19-year-old to the ground. Video footage released later showed the officers in Greensboro, Md., struggling with Black before pinning him down. Black died, and no officers were charged in his death.
Then came Floyd’s death last year, another video of a Black man being held down by police and dying. The cases, Black’s family said in a court filing, were “chillingly similar.” Now they are connected in another way: Among the experts Chauvin’s defense is expected to call this week is the former Maryland medical examiner who deemed Black’s death an accident, a determination his family pilloried in a federal lawsuit filed in December.
The anticipated testimony from David Fowler, who was Maryland’s chief medical examiner until 2019, comes at a pivotal moment in Chauvin’s murder trial. His defense has argued that Floyd was killed not by Chauvin’s knee, but by drug use and his poor health.
What Fowler says could prove crucial for Chauvin’s defense, which has weathered two weeks of damaging and emotional testimony, including from top Minneapolis police officials criticizing their former colleague, and launched its case this week. Chauvin’s defense is hoping to sway jurors before they are expected to begin deliberating next week.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/13/chauvin-trial-expert-maryland-medical-examiner/
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