America on Edge

The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in George Floyd's death is going to the jury today. I have not followed the trial at all, only seen the headlines. I am concerned about those headlines. I have seen up close and personal homicide trials of police officers in Miami. The one prosecutors won was reversed on appeal on two grounds: one, the admission of testimony that the officer charged didn't follow correct police procedure; and two, that venue was not changed. I know Chauvin's trial was help in the local venue where the death occurred, so I am concerned about that. Moreso though, police procedure seemed to be, again just from the headlines, a feature of the Chauvin trial, admitted by both the prosecution and defense. Perhaps the law is different on this score than in Miami but the legal principle involved is carved in stone: Chauvin is to be judged by the standard of what the reasonable person in his circumstances would have done, not by what the reasonable police officer would have done. Testimony and evidence to the contrary confuses the standard, confuses the jury, and risks depriving the defendant of his constitutional right to a fair trial, necessitating a reversal on appeal and a new trial.