Mark Osler watched with astonishment as a medical expert for the defense testified in Derek Chauvin's murder trial.

Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota, said he wondered why, in a racially charged case, the defense would rely so heavily on a "white expert," who was raised in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and trained in South Africa during apartheid.

"He spent much of his life in places where white supremacy was literally a form of government," Osler said. "People with that background are not necessarily racists, but the symbolic link to historical racism was unmistakable."
Ultimately, he said, he decided they likely had no better options. The defense called just seven witnesses, including only two experts: a use-of-force expert and the medical expert, Dr. David Fowler.

"I really thought that the defense would have more arrows in their quiver — but I would imagine they had trouble finding credible fact and expert witnesses given the nature of the case," he said.

It was a conclusion drawn by several legal experts who provided observations about the performances of the prosecution and the defense, both of which have rested their cases after nearly three weeks of witness testimony in the closely watched trial.

"The defense was actually weaker than I thought," said David Schultz, a visiting law professor at the University of Minnesota. "I was expecting more witnesses, more medical testimony."
Schultz said he suspects other witnesses defense attorney Eric Nelson sought out were unwilling to testify because they were concerned they'd be perceived as being "on the wrong side of history."

Chauvin is charged with second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, who cried out for breath and his mother as he lay pinned to the ground under Chauvin's knee for what prosecutors have said was more than nine minutes. The trial has laid out the last moments of Floyd's life in excruciating detail.

Anguished eyewitnesses have testified about their grief at not being able to help him. Medical experts have told jurors just how long it takes a human body to run out of oxygen. Police officers have tried to distance themselves from someone who less than a year ago was one of their own.

And the viral video that shook this nation and others — spurring protests, calls for racial justice and demands for police reform — has been played for jurors, in full or in part, nearly every day.

The prosecution has argued that Floyd died of insufficient oxygen, or asphyxia, caused by Chauvin's knee pressed to his neck as he lay pinned to the ground with his hands cuffed behind him. The defense has said Floyd's drug use and a bad heart were to blame.

Chauvin declined to testify, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. Closing arguments are set to begin Monday.

In all, Osler said, the prosecution was far more effective — not because of the lawyers, but because of their witnesses, specifically, Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo and Dr. Martin Tobin, a world-renowned pulmonologist. They were among 38 people called to the stand by the prosecution.

"The two strongest witnesses in the trial were Chief Arradondo and Dr. Tobin, both of whom spoke in plain language without ambiguity and from a breadth of experience," Osler said. "In contrast, the defense witnesses were much less compelling."

Nelson has argued that Chauvin was merely following the training he'd received throughout a 19-year career, but Arradondo was among a handful of veteran police officers who testified otherwise. Prosecutors were also able to poke holes in the testimony of the defense's use-of-force expert, Barry Brodd, who testified that Chauvin didn't use deadly force.
Brodd had testified that Chauvin's actions were justified, in part, because Floyd was not compliant. A compliant person, he said, would have been "resting comfortably" on the pavement while he was pinned under Chauvin's knee.

"Did you say 'resting comfortably'?" prosecutor Steven Schleicher asked Brodd.
"Or laying comfortably," Brodd responded.

"Resting comfortably on the pavement?" Schleicher asked.
"Yes," Brodd said.

He eventually conceded that Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck likely caused Floyd pain and therefore could be considered force.

Courtesy NBC News