Three former officers found guilty of violating the rights of George Floyd

One of the most important witnesses was Detective Katie Blackwell, a Minneapolis police official who was previously in charge of training. She testified for three days about the training recruits receive on the proper use of force and their constitutional duty to intervene when they see other officers using excessive force.

But defense attorneys attacked Detective Blackwell, arguing that the department had failed to train officers to recognize when they had a duty to intervene, saying the discussion was superficial and “little more than a word on a PowerPoint”.

During his cross-examination, Thomas Plunkett, Mr Kueng’s lawyer, played the audio of a fiery speech given by Al Pacino while playing a football manager in the film “Any Given Sunday”, a clip played to police recruits. academy. Mr Plunkett said his argument was that the department was promoting a “cops against the world” mentality.

The defense also attempted to draw the jury’s attention to the hierarchical and paramilitary aspects of police culture – how recruits are taught to obey superiors and carry out orders without question.

Unlike Mr. Chauvin, who did not testify at his trial, each of the three officers spoke in his own defense. They all said they believed Mr. Chauvin, as a senior officer, was in charge and knew what he was doing, and that they did not acknowledge that Mr. Floyd was in the throes of a medical emergency.

“I think I would trust a 19-year-old veteran to figure it out,” Mr Thao said. Mr Kueng, who had Mr Chauvin as one of his field trainers, said: “He was my senior officer and I trusted his advice.”

To simplify matters for the jury, prosecutors have often used the phrase “in your custody, in your care” to describe officers’ duty to protect a detained suspect. During Mr Chauvin’s trial last year, prosecutors also condensed their brief for jurors to the slogan ‘Believe your eyes’, arguing it was as simple as what they saw in the viewer’s harrowing video .