One of the jurors who convicted former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of murder defended a picture of himself wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt during a protest in 2020.
Brandon Mitchell was seen wearing a T-shirt featuring an image of Martin Luther King Jr. that read, “Get your knee off our necks | BLM,” during a March on Washington event on Aug. 28, 2020.
Mitchell, one of the 12 jurors who found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter on April 21, previously answered “no” to a pair of jury selection questions that may have ruled out his involvement in the case, according to the Star Tribune.
The first question asked, “Did you, or someone close to you, participate in any of the demonstrations or marches against police brutality that took place in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death?”
CHAUVIN TRIAL JUROR SAYS ‘RACIAL CLIMATE’ DIDN’T AFFECT VERDICT
The second asked, “Other than what you have already described above, have you, or anyone close to you, participated in protests about police use of force or police brutality?”
Chauvin Juror attended BLM rally wearing ‘Get Your Knee Off Our Necks’ T-shirt before trial – LIED about it on jury questionnaire
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Mitchell recalled attending the Aug. 28, 2020, event, saying that it was a “good opportunity to be part of something,” but he added that he does not remember wearing or owning the shirt in question.
“I’d never been to D.C.,” he said Monday. “The opportunity to go to D.C., the opportunity to be around thousands and thousands of black people, I just thought it was a good opportunity to be a part of something.”
“This was a big deal,” he said of the march. “It’s a national thing.”
The juror also told Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, ahead of the trial that he had a “very favorable” opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement. He said he watched the video of Chauvin placing his knee on George Floyd‘s neck for over eight minutes and talked about the incident with friends and family at the time.
Mitchell claimed to be neutral on the “blue lives matter” movement because he was friendly with law enforcement officers who visited his gym.
A host of questions has been raised about the validity of the Chauvin trial after the jury was not sequestered during the weekslong process. Many legal experts have predicted an appeal in the developments related to Mitchell might strengthen Nelson’s future case.
The “racial climate” in the United States didn’t play a role in the decision to convict Chauvin on all charges, Mitchell, the first of the jurors to go public, said on Wednesday.
“There was so much stress coming from the case. I mean, those things are so secondary because you’re literally, throughout the trial, you’re watching somebody die on a daily basis, so that stress alone is enough to take your mind away from whatever’s going on outside of the four walls of the courtroom,” Mitchell said at the time.
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“I mean, that was not even, that wasn’t even something that was in any of our minds. I don’t think so,” he added of the racial justice protests and riots that had engulfed Minneapolis.
