Law professor Mark Osler spoke with the Associated Press about the possibility of Derek Chauvin testifying at the trial of former Minneapolis police officers J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao.
From the article: Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, said Chauvin’s plea agreement was actually crafted in a way to limit his usefulness to Kueng, Lane and Thao.
Chauvin’s agreement says he knew that officers — regardless of their rank — are trained to intervene if another officer is using inappropriate force, and that Chauvin didn’t threaten or force any of the three officers to disregard that duty.
The agreement also says that Chauvin did not observe Thao or Kueng do or say anything to try to get Chauvin to stop. It says Chauvin heard Lane ask twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side, but that Chauvin “did not hear or observe Officer Lane press the point, and did not hear or observe Officer Lane say or do anything else to try to get Officer Kueng and the defendant off of Mr. Floyd.”
