HOUSTON — Testimony in the second week of the Derek Chauvin trial is set to resume Monday morning after an emotional first week. Week 1 ended Friday with explosive testimony from Minneapolis Police Lt. Richard Zimmerman.
"If your knee is on a person's neck, that can kill them," Zimmerman told the jury. "Totally unnecessary."
"What do you mean?" prosecutors asked him.
"Pulling him down to the ground face down and putting your knee on the neck for that amount of time ... is just ... uncalled for," Zimmerman testified. "I saw no reason why the officers felt they were in danger."
"I think that was some of the most damning testimony so far," KHOU legal analyst Carmen Roe said.
Roe said that she thinks prosecutors have methodically executed their playbook to this point.
Moments like witness Charles McMillian breaking down on the stand after watching police bodycam video are likely to stick with the jury. McMillian is one of several witnesses that saw what happened to George Floyd.
"The State was smart to front-load this case with a lot of emotional energy," Roe said. "This jury is not going to forget how they felt when they heard from the bystanders."
Some bystanders like Donald Williams even called 911 on the police.
"Why did you do that?" prosecutors asked him while he was on the stand.
"Because I believe I witnessed a murder," Williams said.
The teen who shot a viral video of Floyd's final moments also took the stand. She was among four witnesses whose faces were not shown on camera because they were minors at the time.
“It's the nights I stayed up apologizing -- and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more," Darnella Frazier said.
Last week, prosecutors played a never-before-seen video from inside Cups Food Store. The jury saw Floyd laughing, even dancing before the fatal encounter over a fake $20 bill.
In an unexpected twist, jurors heard from Chauvin himself.
"We got to control this guy because he's a sizeable guy. Looks like he was probably on something," Chauvin is heard saying on the bodycam footage.
"He didn't seem to express the kind of emotions we would expect him to express in that moment," Roe said.
The defense countered by repeatedly highlighting Floyd's drug use.
"You did not know he had taken heroin at that time?" defense attorneys asked.
"No," answered Courteney Ross, Floyd's girlfriend.
Roe said Ross helped humanize Floyd and his struggles.
"He said, 'Can I pray with you?'" Ross said while recounting how they first met.
With the trial set to resume Monday morning, the Minneapolis Police Chief expected to testify against Chauvin.
Roe said prosecutors will start shifting away from emotion to the nitty-gritty legal details over the use of force and cause of death.
That's where she says this case will be decided.
"For everyone who thinks this is an easy verdict for prosecutors or for the defense, they'd be wrong about that," Roe said.