ORANGE — For the people who gathered at Memorial Park on Saturday, some of whom have returned to the same spot every week for almost a year in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, a conviction for Derek Chauvin — the police officer on trial for the death of George Floyd — seems likely.
And still, they acknowledged the unpredictable nature of a jury.
“It just takes one person to hold it up,” said Connie Pike, who has joined other members of the community at Memorial Park since last May, when Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died while in the custody of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. “It’s very unpredictable.”
Chauvin faces charges of manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder in the death of Floyd. After 13 days of trial, closing arguments will be delivered Monday.
Holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign at Veterans Park on Saturday morning, Pike said she watched “quite a lot” of the trial at the beginning.
“It’s quite compelling evidence against him,” she said. “I think, for me, as a pyschotherapist, watching the trauma that people went through — especially the bystanders — they’re so wracked with guilt, and really suffering from the trauma of what they saw.”
The expert witnesses have been excellent as well, she added.
As for Chauvin’s decision to not testify on Friday, she wasn’t surprised.
“I didn’t expect him to; he could only make himself look bad,” she said.
Louise Doud of Warwick, who has also been following the trial for the last two weeks, said she is “heartened that several officers clearly stated they did not think the actions by Mr. Chauvin was anything learned in training, and that they thought it was an inappropriate amount of force.”
Doud and Pike both spoke of the need for “retraining” police officers, especially in light of two recent fatal police-related shootings — one of an unarmed Black man in a Minneapolis suburb, and the other of unarmed Black child in Chicago.
“It just goes to show, police need retraining,” said Pike. “How do you change your response from being hypervigilant to a more objective approach, and still feel safe as a cop? Why do they feel so threatened? I never believed in defunding the police, but retraining.”
Doud said it’s going to take a long time to retrain and to heighten awareness of unconsious and concious racism.
Laura Batkin of Wendell said although a conviction seems like a “slam dunk,” she has said that before about other issues for which she’s been proved wrong.
“It makes you sick at heart,” she said. “Somehow, they’re not getting it. You think every time, ‘This is going to be the one to make the change.’ ”
Batkin added that she’s also scared for the aftermath of the trial, and the “justifiable anger” that will be rampant if Chauvin isn’t convicted on at least one of the charges.
“This is an opportunity for a statement to be made,” she said. “And if they miss that opportunity, I think that will be tragic.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne