You can believe your own eyes

Video evidence is what convicted Derek Chauvin on all three counts

Derek Chauvin found himself guilty by essentially posing for his own close-up as he knelt on George Floyd’s neck in defiance of a half dozen witnesses who were pleading with him that Floyd couldn’t breathe, and that he, Chauvin, was killing him.  The video evidence, played again by the prosecutor during his closing remarks, was in the end undeniable.  It happened.  Chauvin did it.  Chauvin didn’t have a defense other than telling the jurors not to trust what they had seen with their own eyes.

But they did.  Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts was not the verdict a whole bunch of white supremacist loons wanted to see this afternoon.  I’m especially talking about the 400 charged so far in the Capitol insurrection.  The chief prosecutor in the Chauvin trial drove home his most powerful argument over and over, that the jurors had seen the video evidence and they should find Chauvin guilty of killing George Floyd because jurors “can believe your own eyes.”

FBI agents and prosecutors have used video of the attack on the Capitol to identify nearly all the suspects charged in the attack on the Capitol.  Like Derek Chauvin, they were caught on tape committing the exact crime they’re charged with.

I think that’s probably why most of the charges seem so pedestrian:  breaching the off-limits area around the Capitol.  Trespass of the building itself.  Interfering with the legitimate business of the government.  All of those charges can be proven with the video evidence the FBI has apparently gathered on almost all of the people charged in the Capitol attack. They don’t have to prove motive.  They don’t have to prove intent.  All they have to prove is what the videos show:  that the individual charged was on the grounds or inside the Capitol, and that the congress had been forced into recess.  That is the essence of the crimes most of them are charged with, and in many cases, the insurrectionists took selfies of themselves in the act.

I have an idea that the number of cases which actually go to trial will be fairly low – most of these “patriots” will probably cave and plead guilty to some sort of lesser offense.  But the cases of those who choose to fight the charges against them will be short and sweet, because prosecutors in Minnesota set the example federal prosecutors will no doubt follow:  The accused is right there on video tape committing the crime he or she is charged with.  Bad news for Derek Chauvin will be bad news for those charged in the Capitol attack, because their jurors can believe your own eyes, and if they do, they’ll have no choice but to find the insurrectionists guilty.