Prosecutors, aware of that added weight, have spent months finely harmonizing their accusations. Some of the changes to their argument seem small, the latest being a new time on how long Chauvin's knee was on Floyd's neck.
Originally, prosecutors recorded the event at eight minutes and 46 seconds. That number was practiced at many "die-ins" around the country, where activists would lay down in public and private areas for that amount of time to better bring awareness to Floyd's death.
Some Democrats in the Senate knelt for that amount of time in the upper chamber over the summer, as other activists in the country's capital regularly held moments of silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
The number was revised down by a full minute after the admission of a basic arithmetic error by the prosecution. Yet the state now maintains Chauvin held his knee on Floyd for no less than nine minutes.
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A time discrepancy on the original criminal complaint and the prosecution's cases likely won't make much of a difference to the potential jury, the selection process of which will start Monday.
Prosecutors maintain Chauvin's restraint tactics were useless altogether and directly caused Floyd's death, an assertion supported by a coroner's report that found he died of "asphyxiation."
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"Mr. Floyd repeatedly stated he could not breathe and his physical condition continued to deteriorate such that force was no longer necessary to control him," the charging document against Chauvin states. "Officer Chauvin's restraint of Mr. Floyd in this manner for a prolonged period was a substantial causal factor in Mr. Floyd losing consciousness, constituting substantial bodily harm, and Mr. Floyd's death as well."
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Notwithstanding the prosecution's confidence in an ultimate guilty verdict, Minneapolis has taken great steps to minimize discomfort both throughout and after the trial, including upward of over a million dollars in fencing around the city courthouse and town hall.
Businesses, still recovering losses from the riots that troubled the city over the summer, started boarding up windows and storefronts this week. The Minneapolis Economic Policy and Development bureau advised business owners to "consider adding physical barriers, such as ... permanent security gates" to minimize damage.
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Notwithstanding monthslong speech and attempts from members of the City Council to slash the funding of the Minneapolis Police Department, the body recently approved upward of $1.5 million in funding for new security measures.
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"Our hope is that the number of days we need these officers will be very short, that it will be a trial where there is peaceful expression of First Amendment rights and not destruction or other types of illegal activities that would require these officers to be around for numerous days," City Coordinator Mark Ruff said last week.
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