The judge in the trial against four ex-Minneapolis police officers who stand accused of George Floyd’s murder—or in its aiding and abetting—will not allow as evidence some records of Floyd’s history, specifically a prior conviction for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
Attorney Eric Nelson, who represents Derek Chauvin, the former officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck before he died, filed a motion on Aug. 28 (pdf) for the admission of evidence relating to several incidents, including one in 2019 in which Floyd admitted to “daily” drug use and another in which he was allegedly involved in selling illegal drugs and, when approached by police, “placed drugs in his mouth in an attempt to avoid arrest, and swallowed them.” The motion states that when Floyd interacted with the officers, “he engaged in diversionary behavior such as crying and acted irrationally.”
