Medical witness for defense in Chauvin trial says Floyd’s manner of death ‘undetermined’

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• Judy Woodruff:

  The defense team for former police officer Derek Chauvin has been making the case that George Floyd died for reasons other than the actions by Chauvin and that Chauvin's kneeling on Floyd's body was not the crucial factor.

  Today, the defense focused on that question with its own expert testimony.

  Yamiche Alcindor has our report.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Today, the defense called to the stand Dr. David Fowler, former chief medical examiner of Maryland.

  The defense expert witness spent much of his testimony directly contradicting earlier testimony from the prosecution's expert witnesses. Fowler testified that George Floyd died of sudden cardiac arrest caused by his underlying conditions. He listed those conditions as heart disease and drug use.

  He also cited a lack of bruising on Floyd from Chauvin's restraint.

• Dr. David Fowler:

  All of his injuries were in areas where the knee was not.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Prosecution expert witnesses have testified that Chauvin's knee restraint directly contributed to Floyd's inability to breath and his ultimate death.

  Meanwhile, Fowler also said that carbon monoxide coming from the police vehicle also could have affected Floyd. He suggested an object, possibly drug-related, could be seen in Floyd's mouth and could have also contributed to heart failure.

• David Fowler:

  In the back corner of Mr. Floyd's mouth, you can see what appears to be a white object.

• Eric Nelson:

  This object right there?

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Fowler also said Floyd's speech, heard in video evidence, suggests he was breathing normally.

  Prosecution expert witnesses have said it is wrong to make that assumption. Instead, they have testified that just because Floyd was talking doesn't mean he was breathing adequately.

• Eric Nelson:

  How would you classify manner of death?

• David Fowler:

  So, this is one of those cases where you have so many conflicting different manners — the carbon monoxide would usually be classified as an accident, although someone was holding him there, so some people would say you could elevate that to a homicide.

  You have got the drugs on board. He's got significant natural disease. He's in a situation where restrained in a very stressful situation. When you put it all together, it's very difficult to say which of those is the most accurate.

  So, I would fall back to undetermined.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  The prosecution cross-examined Fowler, attempting to pick apart his testimony on what exactly caused Floyd to die. One prosecutor also suggested that Fowler's statement on a substance in Floyd's mouth was leading the jury.

• Jerry Blackwell:

  So you are not then either telling or suggesting to the jury that the white substance was a pill, are you?

• David Fowler:

  I never said it was a pill. I carefully said that I could see a white structure in his mouth.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Yamiche Alcindor.