Derek Chauvin was always going to have a tough time defending his actions during his trial. The video of him kneeling on George Floyd was damning and was going to be almost impossible to explain away.
In the end, the decision was made to not have the former police officer answer questions on the stand. That does not mean, however, that Chauvin didn’t try to plead his case in other ways. One alternate juror says that the ex-cop attempted to intimidate her with constant stares.
Lisa Christensen recently spoke about the experience with CBS This Morning’s Jamie Yuccas. She told the host, “Every time I would look up, he was right in my vision, so we locked eyes quite a few times, and I was pretty uncomfortable.”
The alternate juror continued by commending prosecution witness Dr. Martin Tobin, “He explained everything. I understood it down to where he said, ‘this is moment that he lost his life,’ um, really got to me.”
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EXCLUSIVE: An alternate juror in the #DerekChauvinTrial sits down with @jamieyuccas.
Lisa Christensen did not have a role in the verdict, but she sat through every minute of the trial.
She says even though she wasn't part of the deliberations — she came to a decision. pic.twitter.com/oREghd4OKm
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) April 22, 2021
She also had harsh words for defense attorney Eric J. Nelson, “I don’t think they had a good impact. I think he overpromised in the beginning and didn’t live up to what he said he was going to do.”
While she didn’t cast a vote, Christensen says, “I felt he was guilty. I didn’t know if it was going to be guilty on all counts, I would have said guilty.”
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
