Doesn’t that risk prejudicing a jury? ADAM ALLINGTON: Now, it is not entirely unheard of to hear these kinds of personal or emotional testimony from the loved ones of a victim, after jury has rendered a decision, during sentencing. TED SAMPSELL-JONES: Exactly right. After watching the first days of testimony, Schultz said it was clear prosecutors were “pulling at the emotional strings of the jury” to make a case for convicting Derek Chauvin of the most severe charges. “It’s an excellent tactic for the state to try to get jurors to feel sorry for a person because he’s an addict, but in this case, being an addict means he’s violating the law,” said Joe Friedberg, a defense attorney. “It is damning to the defense,” Ramsay said. Once again, the odds of that working are, low, they are things will be things that will be appealed. I mean, Chauvin’s attorney raised that again this morning about the shooting and the publicity and the riots last night. Bloomberg Law - The prosecution wrapped up it’s case in the Derek Chauvin murder on Monday, April 12. And the second is, was his use of force reasonable, or put differently, whether he was intending to hurt him as opposed to just using reasonable force. ADAM ALLINGTON: Are there any states that have something similar to the spark of life doctrine, as far as you know? what is the “spark of life” doctrine? “What the spark of life is bringing in, is painting a picture of perhaps Chauvin was indifferent to the problems to the health and the life and safety of George Floyd,” Schultz said. And relevance means shedding some light on an element of the offense. Second, it also probably violates the character evidence rule, which means we don’t put in evidence really of either the defendant’s past or the victim’s path subject to only certain exceptions. Learn more about a Bloomberg Law subscription. Probably again, more important to this family than any other aspect of the case. ADAM ALLINGTON: With me here to shed some light on the Spark of Life Doctrine, is Ted Sampsell-Jones, a professor at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. And it was just one of those things where there was just a random case where the prosecutor kind of choked up when talking about the victim in the course of giving opening or closing arguments, and the defendant appealed that and said it was inappropriate and Minnesota Supreme Court said that was okay. ADAM ALLINGTON: Is there a chance that any of this spark of life testimony could give Chauvin an issue to raise on appeal? The young woman was found with a bullet wound to her shoulder, but police … TED SAMPSELL-JONES: Yes, absolutely. In this case (Chauvin), a lot of people are kind of happy that the prosecution is able to do this move. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And the fact that, you know, George Floyd’s brother, will talk a little bit about him growing up and what a kind person he was. JUDGE PETER CAHILL: I’m not allowing a lot of the paths that would amount to “character evidence.” And I’m specifically concerned here about, and it may be true, you know, the fact that Mr. Floyd was described as a “gentle giant.” As soon as you start getting into propensity for violence or propensity for peacefulness, I think then we’re getting into character evidence and then that does open the door for the defense to cross examine about his character for peacefulness. 'Spark of life': Jury to hear from George Floyd's brother in quirk of Minnesota law 'Spark of life' testimony is part of a limited type of evidence allowed in criminal trials in Minnesota meant to show that a crime victim was not a faceless person but was "imbued with the spark of life," as the Minnesota Supreme Court put it in a 1985 ruling. Log in to access all of your BLAW products. So yes, it’s controversial. 'Spark of Life': Jury to Hear From George Floyd's Brother in Quirk of Minnesota Law. The prosecutor became so emotional the trial court had to take a recess. Part of what Chauvin’s attorney are trying to do now is set up issues for appeal. They are trying to portray Floyd's complicated life, from his childhood in Houston’s Third Ward, where he came to be seen as a mentor, to his struggle with drug addiction in Minneapolis. So, I’d say that’s kind of the top thing, but that’s uncertain. They’re probably going to lose and if they lose they’re certainly going to appeal. Prosecutors say he knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, pinning the handcuffed man to the ground. J ury selection in the Derek Chauvin murder trial resumed Wednesday morning, but not before the prosecution and defense attorneys debated a … “It was the defense’s best day in terms of testimony,” said F. Clayton Tyler, a prominent local defense attorney. Some legal experts have said if prosecutors go too far to invoke undue sympathy, Chauvin's defense could have grounds for an appeal. You can talk about his life a little bit. 1 Sign up for our latest news and updates! Sign Up For potential parents struggling with fertility, bright eggs might be good eggs. So, there’s no question that they will appeal things like the trial should have been moved to another city. One is, did Derek Chauvin caused George Floyd’s death. The idea of Spark of Life testimony is it gives the prosecution a chance to tell a little bit about the victim, sort of life and background from a very personal perspective in ways that has nothing to do with the charged incident in question. They’re called “victim impact statements.” But to hear this kind of testimony during the evidence phase. And you know, this case is unusual because all of our political sympathies are kind of flipped here. Law & Crime Network published this video item, entitled “The Derek Chauvin Trial ‘Spark of Life'” – below is their description. I mean, think of there’s really two elements that are at issue in this case. I’m about 2 hours behind, so the case is further along than I am. During the Derek Chauvin trial for the murder of George Floyd, the [Un]Common Law podcast is exploring the latest issues related to the case. The Minnesota Supreme Court, the state's top court, ruled that such evidence is allowed as long as it does not invoke undue sympathy or inflame the … ADAM ALLINGTON: Earlier in the trial we also heard spark of life testimony from Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross, who talked about how she and Floyd met, as well as their shared addiction to opioids. Transcripts of our episodes are made available as soon as possible. The trial should have been delayed based on the publicity. It’s controversial, and that violates, I think two foundational principles of evidence law. EXPLAINER: How Floyd’s ‘spark of life’ played out at trial – Galveston County Daily News. So it’s kind of like when you make one point, the other side gets an opportunity to rebut that point. TED SAMPSELL-JONES: Yes, exactly. Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter. And the odds of that succeeding on appeal are near zero, but that doesn’t mean they won’t give it a shot. "The 'spark of life' doctrine is controversial because it violates the foundational principle of relevance in evidence law," said Ted Sampsell-Jones, a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the 1985 case from which the doctrine and its memorable name are derived, a defendant convicted of killing a police officer said the prosecution unfairly prejudiced the jury against him by introducing evidence about the officer’s life and family. They are trying to portray Floyd's complicated life, from his childhood in Houston’s Third Ward, where he came to be seen as a mentor, to his struggle with drug addiction in Minneapolis. ADAM ALLINGTON: One the one hand this sounds like a noble intent, right? Over the course of more than two weeks, the jury heard … Landscape version of the Flipboard logo. Set aside Derek Chauvin and think of an ordinary case, this is something that prosecutors use in a lot of cases. And so they need to have a bunch of issues for appeal once they lose kind of the process as an appeals lawyer is to say, you know, to say “what are my three or four or five best issues for appeal?”. When Chauvin's defense attorney Eric Nelson cross-examined Ross, he questioned her on Floyd's drug use, driving hard for her to talk about how Floyd was hospitalized in March 2020 and how she had speculated that it was because he had used heroin. And then the Supreme court decides in Noor’s favor that other case, then that’s going to give Chauvin an absolute killer issue for appeal and would mean he would get all the way down to manslaughter, which would really be a good result for the defense. So of course that kind of thing kind of come up, but Minnesota really allows this evidence in for the purpose of kind of humanizing and making the jury more sympathetic to the victim, which is not something that other states allow. Now of course, sometimes it comes up in background, you know, you’ll be asking a witness, you know, how do you know the victim? To the second issue, I would say. Prosecutors used a legal doctrine called “spark of life” to call Courteney Ross to testify about Floyd's life, and are expected to call a Floyd family member to the witness stand later. That shows that he’s not a nonviolent character. 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