George Clooney Reportedly Offered Brutal Advice For The Derek Chauvin Trial

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George Clooney Reportedly Offered Brutal Advice For The Derek Chauvin Trial

The actor suggested a way to demolish the former Minneapolis cop's defense, said Benjamin Crump, the attorney for George Floyd’s family.

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  By Lee Moran, HuffPost US
  

Actor George Clooney dished out some brutal advice for the prosecution of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the attorney for George Floyd’s family said on Wednesday’s episode of “The View.”

Lawyer Benjamin Crump recalled Clooney lamenting in an email that Chauvin’s defense lawyers are suggesting that drugs ― and not the 9 minutes and 29 seconds that Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck ― caused Floyd’s death in May 2020.

“He says, ‘Attorney Crump, you should tell them that if Derek Chauvin feels so confident in that, he should volunteer during his case to get down on the floor in that courtroom and let somebody come and put their knee on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and be able to see if he can survive,’” Crump remembered Clooney writing to him.

“The experts will opine during this case that the average human being can go without oxygen from 30 seconds to 90 seconds — where George Floyd went without oxygen for over 429 seconds, and that’s why it was intentional what this officer did,” Crump added. “And I believe in my heart that he will be held criminally liable and it will hopefully set new precedents in America.”

Check out Crump’s comments from the 7-minute mark here:


Clooney has not confirmed Crump’s story. A representative did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

The actor has been vocal about Floyd’s death, penning a scathing op-ed in June 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests that followed Floyd’s killing. Clooney declared racism in the United States “our pandemic.”

“It infects all of us, and in 400 years we’ve yet to find a vaccine,” Clooney wrote at the time. “It seems we’ve stopped even looking for one and we just try to treat the wound on an individual basis.”

Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Floyd. The trial continues.

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Lawyer Explains Why George Clooney's Advice To George Floyd's Attorney Makes No Sense

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BY KATHLEEN WALSH/APRIL 9, 2021

It would appear that George Clooney has been as riveted by the Derek Chauvin trial as the rest of the world. And, also like everyone else watching, he has strong feelings about it. But as Los Angeles civil rights attorney DeWitt Lacy explains to Nicki Swift, Clooney's instincts are a bit off on this occasion.


Chauvin is charged with the murder of George Floyd, a Black man whose death was captured in a viral video in March 2020. The video shows the Minneapolis ex-cop kneeling on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying prone on his stomach. On April 8, 2021, an expert pulmonologist called by the prosecution testified that a healthy person would also have died in the same circumstances Floyd was subjected to.

In an email to the Floyd family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, Clooney seems to want to test this theory in court. Clooney's email read, in part, "Attorney Crump, you should tell them if Derek Chauvin feels so confident in that, he should volunteer during his case, to get down on the floor in that courtroom, and let somebody come and put their knee on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds and be able to see if he can survive," Entertainment Tonight reported.

But Lacy explains this is a terrible idea. "George Clooney's advice is neither good, nor helpful," he said, explaining no judge would let this idea fly. Here's why.

"An inflammatory suggestion like that made in court would only anger the jury and that's not good for what's a very strong case against [Derek] Chauvin," Los Angeles civil rights attorney DeWitt Lacy told Nicki Swift.


Suggesting that George Clooney's legal theory may be more influenced by Hollywood than courtroom experience, Lacy continued, "It may be one of those things that movie stars believe are dramatic and compelling to jurors during a trial. But that ignores the reality that jurors take what they do seriously, and their job is to consider the facts of a case. And certainly judges take what they do seriously, so movie-style courtroom theatrics aren't going to win over any fans."

Clooney is married to international law and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney but, Lacy points out, being married to a lawyer isn't the same as being one yourself.

Lacy concludes by quipping that he doesn't think anyone is really looking to Clooney for legal advice — and a gentle reminder that it's really the state who is prosecuting Chauvin. "In a criminal trial, it's the state prosecuting Officer Chauvin, not Mr. Crump," Lacy  noted.