One of the jurors who sat on Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd has explained how he came to vote for the guilty verdict.
Brandon Mitchell, from Minneapolis, was known only as juror number 52 during the trial, but has now opened up about the harrowing process and why he and his fellow 11 jurors were convinced of the former police officer's guilt.
Speaking on CBS' This Morning, the 31-year-old basketball coach said the group all took part in preliminary votes and worked through the evidence.
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He said: "When we walked into the deliberation room, the first thing we voted on was whether we wanted to have our mask on, so that was kind of an icebreaker to get going.
"Then we voted for a foreperson, and from there we went straight into the manslaughter charges and took a preliminary vote before doing a final vote on those charges, and went forward from there.
"The preliminary vote was 11 of us were already on board for the guilty for manslaughter, one of us was still unsure.
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"And we just went over it as a team, each person went down the line on why they thought it was guilty, we did another vote, maybe 40 minutes later, and everybody was on the same page."
When asked why he was convinced of Chauvin's guilt, Mitchell said it was down to the testimony of expert witness Dr Michael Tobin, a pulmonologist who said Mr Floyd died due to 'low level of oxygen'.
Mr Mitchell said: "With him speaking so scientifically, but also making it understandable for everyone along with the exhibits he came with, I thought he just broke it down in a manner that was easy for all the jurors to understand.
"And I didn't think there was any way for the defence to come back after that. To me, the case was done at that point almost."
But the whole process, Mr Mitchell said, was incredibly taxing for him and his fellow jurors.
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He explained: "We were just stressed about the simple fact that every day we had come in and watch a Black man die.
"That alone is stressful. Coming in each and every day and having to watch somebody die is stressful enough by itself.
"So anything outside of that was secondary, just because as a human it's natural to feel some kind of way as you watch somebody in agony."
Chavin, 45, was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter following a trial earlier this month.
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The maximum sentence for second-degree unintentional murder is 'imprisonment of not more than 40 years', while the maximum sentence for third-degree murder is 'imprisonment of not more than 25 years'.
The maximum sentence for second-degree manslaughter, meanwhile, is 10 years and/or $20,000 (£14,000).
He is set to be sentenced on 16 June.
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