We're going to be starting the Derek Chauvin trial tomorrow and Minneapolis will again be in the spotlight. I haven't gone downtown much in recent months to see the fortifications for myself, but there's enough concertina wire and barricades up around the government center to stop much from happening at the place where the trial will take place.
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| Tunnel of love |
I don't know who the grandees are trying to protect, but this sort of fortification suggests an extraordinary level of fear. The trial is going to last for at least a few weeks and while there are certainly going to be all manner of protesters downtown, it's highly unlikely that anyone is going to breach the perimeter, but I also think the problems will be elsewhere in town.
The problem for the local government is simple enough -- the optics of George Floyd's demise are both egregious and potentially incorrect. Although Keith Ellison and his merry band of prosecutors will never admit it publicly, they don't have an airtight case. It's quite possible Floyd was already a dead man by the time Chauvin got to the scene. He had a lot of fentanyl in his system at the time of death, quite possibly a lethal dose. His defense team will certainly present evidence to that effect to the jury.
I sincerely hope Ellison and his team have an answer prepared. If not, someone may end up on the business end of that concertina wire.
