Derek Chauvin is on trial for George Floyd’s death

Hennepin County’s chief medical examiner and a forensic pathologist testified today in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin.

They detailed what they found during the course of examining George Floyd’s death.

Here’s what they said today in court:

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County chief medical examiner who performed Floyd’s autopsy, said he still classifies Floyd’s death as a homicide, and that his opinion remains unchanged. He told the court that Floyd’s heart disease and use of fentanyl were contributing factors to his death, but they were not the direct cause.

Asked about the autopsy and Floyd’s death certificate, Baker described the “top line of the cause of death” as “what you think is the most important thing that precipitated the death.”

Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, has argued that Floyd died as a result of drugs and preexisting health conditions. And under cross examination, Baker said he believed those factors played a role. But Baker reiterated he stood by the cause of death he wrote on Floyd’s death certificate and his finding that Floyd’s death was a homicide, which to a medical examiner means his death was caused by another person and does not necessarily indicate guilt.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas, who has worked as a medical examiner herself, including in the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, and who was part of Baker’s training, agreed with Baker’s finding in the cause of death, adding she believed the “primary mechanism of death is asphyxia or low oxygen.”

Because of the restraint and his position, she said, Floyd was “unable to get enough oxygen in” to support his body’s functions.

Thomas explained the technical wording of the medical examiner’s finding in the cause of death, saying, “What it means to me is that the activities of the law enforcement officers resulted in Mr. Floyd’s death. And that specifically those activities were the subdual, the restraint and the neck compression.”

“There’s no evidence,” she later added, “to suggest he would have died that night except for the interactions with law enforcement.”

Court is adjourned until Monday morning when testimony is expected to resume in the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.

The medical examiner who ruled George Floyd’s death a homicide last year says due to the 46-year-old’s underlying health conditions, his body was simply not able to survive being subdued by police.  

Baker explained to the jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin how he examined Floyd’s body to identify any injuries and found cuts and bruises on Floyd’s face and hands from the interaction with police.  

“These are blunt force injuries, these are abrasions and lacerations, again, that’s damage to the skin from blunt trauma. These would be entirely consistent with him, having been in an altercation with another person,” Baker testified.  

He looked under the skin on Floyd’s back to see if there were any signs of bruising and found none. “Sometimes, fresh bruises can be difficult to see in some people, so we look underneath the skin to make sure we have a missed something,” he testified.  

Baker did not photograph Floyd’s heart since it appeared normal, though the weight was slightly larger due to high blood pressure, he said.  

“The weight of the heart is a very good predictor as to whether that heart is normal or not, people who have high blood pressure for a long period of time, their heart will actually get heavier, just like any muscle that’s worked hard. The heart will grow in response to that kind of stress,” Baker testified.  

Floyd’s arteries were dissected looking for narrowing or blockages and significant hardening was found. “You should be seeing through a round hole in each of those but they’re pretty severely narrowed,” Baker told the jury as they looked at photos of the dissected blood vessels.

He said there was no sign of clots in his coronary artery and no damage to the heart muscle itself.  

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County chief medical examiner who performed George Floyd’s autopsy, said he still classifies Floyd’s death as a homicide which, in the medical world, is not an assignment of guilt or malicious intent necessarily.

In regards to any underlying medical conditions Floyd may have suffered from or what may have been in his system in May 2020, Baker said “they are not direct causes of Mr. Floyd’s death.”

“They’re contributing causes,” he added. “I would still classify it as a homicide today.”

The underlying heart disease George Floyd suffered from “contributed” but was not “the direct cause” of his death, Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner who performed Floyd’s autopsy, testified in court today.

Baker went on to explain what Floyd’s heart was likely put through in May 2020 during the incident with police.

“Now, in the context of an altercation with other people that involves things like physical restraint, that involves things like being held to the ground, that involves things like the pain you would incur from having your cheek up against the asphalt and abrasion on your shoulder, those events are going to cause stress hormones to pour out into your body like adrenaline,” Baker added. “The adrenaline will ask your heart to beat faster, it will ask your body for more oxygen so that you can get through that altercation. And, in my opinion, the law enforcement subdual restraint and neck compression was just more than Mr. Floyd could take by virtue of those heart conditions.”

Dr. Andrew Baker.

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner who performed George Floyd’s autopsy, told the court he has “no reason to believe” Floyd’s tumor – a paraganglioma – discovered in his pelvis had anything to do with his  death. 

“What we’re talking about is an incidental tumor I happened to find in his pelvis during the autopsy. I did look at it under the microscope. The likely diagnosis is a paraganglioma but I have no reason to believe that had anything to do with Mr. Floyd’s death,” he continued.

Moments before, Baker made similar comments about Floyd’s sickle cell trait.

“Sickle cell trait is carried by about 8% of Americans of African heritage. What it means is that one of the genes that codes for the beta chain of hemoglobin has an abnormal substitution in it. If you just have sickle cell trait, chances are you will go through life and never have any symptoms from it because you make plenty of normal hemoglobin,” Baker told the court.

“So, it’s really just a fluke that it got picked up at autopsy. In my opinion, it doesn’t have anything to do with why he died,” he added.

Baker ruled Floyd’s death last May was a homicide, identifying the cause as “cardiopulmonary arrest” that occurred during “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.”

Dr. Andrew Baker.

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County chief medical examiner, testified today that George Floyd’s autopsy revealed that he did not have have any prior heart damage before the incident in May 2020.

“Mr. Floyd had no visible or microscopic previous damage to his heart muscle,” Baker said.

Earlier today: Dr. Lindsey Thomas, a forensic pathologist, said the “subdual, restraint and compression” of law enforcement of Floyd was “ultimately” the immediate cause of death.

“This is a death where both the heart and lung stopped working. And the point is that it’s due to law enforcement subdual, restraint and compression. That is kind of what ultimately is the immediate cause of death. It’s the subdual, restraint and compression,” Thomas said. 

Asked by the prosecution to explain what the terms “subdual restraint and neck compression” mean, Thomas said:

Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner, testified today that George Floyd’s autopsy revealed that he had suffered “several injuries to his face” in May 2020.

Baker added: “These would be entirely consistent with the left side of his face being pinned against the asphalt or road surface he was on the night before.”

Dr. Andrew Baker.

Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, who performed George Floyd’s autopsy, told the prosecuting attorney that he did not view videos of Floyd’s death before examining the body.

Baker ruled Floyd’s death last May was a homicide, identifying the cause as “cardiopulmonary arrest” that occurred during “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.”

The medical examiner saw the videos upon completing the autopsy.

“One video I saw shortly after the autopsy, that was the one most of the public had seen through Facebook or other social media, the other videos such as the cub surveillance video and the body worn camera videos, I did not see until three or four days after the autopsy,” Baker said.

Dr. Andrew Baker.

Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, who performed George Floyd’s autopsy, has taken the stand.

Baker ruled Floyd’s death last May a homicide, identifying the cause as “cardiopulmonary arrest” that occurred during “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.”

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s official autopsy made no mention of asphyxiation as a cause of death, which has been a key pillar of prosecutors’ case.

The court has returned from a lunch break, and testimony has resumed in the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.

Earlier today, forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas testified that the “primary mechanism” of George Floyd’s death was “asphyxia or low oxygen.”

She told the court she ruled out drugs as a factor in Floyd’s death.

Shareeduh Tate.

Shareeduh Tate, George Floyd’s cousin, said that she thinks the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin is “going in the right direction.”

“The testimony from the experts really drove home what we thought all along, is that, you know, his cause of death was from the neck compression and not from a drug overdose,” Tate said. 

The family is “dealing with it as best that we can” as they re-live Floyd’s death through the trial, she added.

Tate has said she’s “pessimistically optimistic” about the trial, and she thinks many Black Americans who are watching the trial feel the same way.  

The first day of the trial stood out for her, she said, since that was the first time she saw the video of her cousin outside of Cup Foods. 

Charles McMillan’s testimony also struck a chord with her, she said. McMillian, who was one of the first bystanders on the scene as Floyd was being taken into custody in May 2020, broke down on the stand during his testimony after watching footage of his arrest.

CNN legal analyst Laura Coates.

Hypothetical scenarios introduced in the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin are “dangerous,” according to CNN legal analyst Laura Coates. 

While cross-examining forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas, defense attorney Eric Nelson asked her about George Floyd’s heart disease and what the cause of death would be if police were taken out of the incident altogether.

Earlier, Thomas testified that the “subdual, restraint and compression” of Floyd by law enforcement was “ultimately” the immediate cause of his death.

For the first time during the trial, the seat reserved for a representative for Derek Chauvin’s family was filled today by a woman, according to reports from two courtroom pool reporters.

Deputies had previously removed the seat from the courtroom as no representative of the Chauvin family had attended the trial until this point.

Pool reports note a deputy is sitting between the George Floyd and Chauvin family representatives. The two are not seen looking at each other. 

The court has taken a break for lunch.

Testimony is expected to resume after the break.

Jurors in the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin seem “relatively well-engaged” and “appear to be listening” to Friday morning’s testimony from forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas, according to reports from two courtroom pool reporters.

When Thomas told the court she believed “asphyxia or low oxygen” was the “primary mechanism” of George Floyd’s death, “nearly all jurors were seen writing this down.”

A packet of photos from Floyd’s autopsy was passed out to jurors, pool reporters and spectators in court during Thomas’ testimony Friday morning.

The packets included “close up photos of his face, shoulders and hands. His body is brightly lit – almost portrait style. There is nothing outwardly clinical about the photos.”

One pool reporter observed all jurors looking through the photos and “some are seen flipping ahead looking at all the images.”

The Floyd family representative “didn’t have any obvious emotional reaction” to the packet of autopsy photos, but one pool reporter noted “he spent a long time staring at the first image, before thumbing through the remaining images.”

One pool report included the following descriptions of the autopsy photos presented to jurors:

Both pool reporters noted that for the first time during the trial, the seat reserved for a Derek Chauvin family representative is filled today by a woman. Deputies had previously removed the seat from the courtroom as no representative of the Chauvin family had attended the trial until this point.

Pool reporters have not yet been able to identify the Floyd family representative in court Friday. The reports note a deputy is sitting between the Floyd and Chauvin family representatives. The two are not seen looking at each other. 

A member of the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial was questioned Friday morning by Judge Peter Cahill about “some concerns expressed” over outside influences, according to reports from two courtroom pool reporters.  

The questioning of juror took place on the record before testimony in the trial began Friday, but broadcast of video and audio was not allowed by the judge. 

The woman juror told Cahill “she had turned on a television and briefly saw coverage” and “saw an image of the courtroom with a woman with dark hair.” The woman explained to the judge that her volume was off and she quickly turned off the TV, according to the report. 

When Cahill asked the woman if she had any contact with her family about the case, the woman replied her mother-in-law had texted her and said, “Looks like it was a bad day,” according to one report. The second pool report differed and said the text was from the woman’s mother. The woman told the judge she did not respond to the text. 

“Any book deal in the works?” Cahill asked. 

“The woman became slightly flustered or surprised,” according to one report. “No, I don’t know how this case is going to go,” the woman responded. She reiterated she hasn’t talked to anyone about the trial. 

According to the reports, after the woman left the courtroom, Cahill asked if attorneys wanted to make any motions. Defense attorney Eric Nelson declined. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher said he would like the record to note the woman’s demeanor. Cahill noted the woman seemed “surprised.”  

Defense attorney Eric Nelson.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson is now questioning forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas.

Thomas testified earlier today that the “primary mechanism” of George Floyd’s death was “asphyxia or low oxygen.”

She told the court she ruled out drugs as a factor in Floyd’s death.

Thomas explained that Floyd’s death was not “sudden” like you would get with methamphetamine. And it was not slow like you would see with fentanyl, where “the death is slow, it’s peaceful, they fall asleep,” she said.

The trial has resumed after a 20-minute break.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas continues her testimony on the stand.

The court is taking a 20-minute break. Dr. Lindsey Thomas, a forensic pathologist will continue her testimony when court resumes.

Before the recess, Dr. Thomas was being asked about George Floyd’s manner of death and why she agrees with Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker’s ruling that Floyd’s death last May was a homicide.