Donald Williams II was a powerful eyewitness, but he freely conceded he is not a medical expert.
In the state’s opening statement at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial (which I address in more detail in a column on our home page), prosecutor Jerry Blackwell spoke of how, on the haunting video, the jury could see George Floyd’s neck being pressed in a chokehold by Chauvin “until the life was squeezed out of him.” It turned out that this anticipated the eyewitness testimony of Donald Williams II, a 33-year-old mixed-martial-arts fighter and security guard.
It was Mr. Williams who described what he saw that way. He is, furthermore, heard repeatedly on the recording played during the prosecution’s opening, pleading with the police to reposition Floyd so he could breathe easier, and getting progressively angrier — and more profane — as Floyd becomes unresponsive yet Chauvin maintains his neck hold.
Williams is an important eyewitness, and his account was very credible — an easy judgment to make since what he described is recorded. Where things got contentious, though, was in the prosecution’s dual-use effort to portray him as an expert witness, too. The state questioned him about his experience in grappling with opponents in mixed-martial arts, as well as watching other fighters compete: the experience of rendering others unconscious, losing consciousness himself, and watching people fade into unconsciousness — all due to choke holds.
There were two notable things about all this.
First, while Williams was, net-net, a strong prosecution witness, his cross-examination yielded some points for Chauvin’s case. Defense counsel Eric Nelson elicited from Williams that he had seen fighters, though having lost consciousness temporarily, come to and instantly start fighting again. Not only that. Williams said he’d had the experience himself of being rendered unconscious and then wanting to start fighting again — only to learn the fight had been called.
It is the defense’s position that Chauvin was not employing excessive force by maintaining his hold even after Floyd lost consciousness — that there was need to be concerned, because Floyd was bigger and stronger than the police, that he would come to and act violently.
As the prosecution pointed out in some final (“redirect”) questioning, Williams and the fighters he was talking about were not handcuffed behind the back when they regained consciousness. Moreover, though the prosecutors had no basis to ask Williams about this (since he hadn’t witnessed it), there is — at this point — no evidence that Floyd ever got violent with the cops (as opposed to refusing to comply with their instructions to get in the squad car). Still, on balance, Williams’s testimony on this point was helpful to Chauvin (and it seemed to me that Williams did not realize this when he volunteered his own experience of regaining consciousness and wanting to fight).
This was a dubious way for prosecutors to approach Williams’s testimony. They did not need expert testimony from him. He was a powerful eyewitness, but he freely conceded he is not a medical expert. From a technical standpoint, he is not going to help the state’s cause-of-death presentation. By getting cute and trying to make him an expert, they ended up opening the door for the defense to score some points.
More significant may be the long-term effect. Later in the trial, there will be a battle of medical experts. As I explained in today’s column, the state wants to de-emphasize that testimony. But if the prosecutors hope to be able to limit what Chauvin’s defense can elicit from the medical experts, they are not helping themselves by encouraging the court to let Williams testify as if he were an expert.