Key witness who was in car with George Floyd announces intent to 'plead the Fifth'
Morries Lester Hall had to be tracked down in Texas on felony warrants and brought back to Minnesota to answer those charges and to testify in Derek Chauvin trial
Morries Lester Hall was in George Floyd’s Ford Explorer on Memorial Day 2020 when Floyd was arrested and later died while in custody of four Minneapolis police officers. (Video Capture: Minneapolis PD Body Cam footage)
A key witness who was with George Floyd on the day he died has informed the court that he will invoke the Fifth Amendment if asked to testify in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.
The Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office filed a notice Wednesday on behalf of Morries Lester Hall, 42, who was in the car with Floyd when police approached him for allegedly using a fake $20 bill at Cup Foods in Minneapolis.
“Mr. Morries Lester Hall, through undersigned counsel, hereby provides notice to all parties in this matter that if called to testify he will invoke his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination,” said a notice filed by Assistant Public Defender Adrienne Cousins. “Therefore, counsel for Mr. Hall respectfully moves this court to quash the subpoen … and release Mr. Hall from any obligations therein.”
Authorities previously said Hall was a key witness in the state’s investigation into the four officers who apprehended Floyd. He was seen in police body camera videos sitting in the car with Floyd — his longtime friend — as another occupant, Shawanda Hill, sat in the back seat.
Prosecutors and defense attorney Eric Nelson also listed Hall as a potential witness in the trial of Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, reports said.
Hall told The New York Times last June that Floyd didn’t resist the arrest and instead attempted to defuse the situation. The body cam video shown in court Wednesday tends to support that, but it also shows Floyd was not cooperative, either.
“I could hear him pleading, ‘Please, officer, what’s all this for?’” he said.
An official said Hall initially gave a false name to officers after Floyd’s death. He then left Minneapolis and was tracked down in Texas and arrested due to outstanding warrants for felony possession of a firearm, felony domestic assault, and felony drug possession, the paper reported.
Hall described himself as a “key witness,” in the Times interview.
“I’m a key witness to the cops murdering George Floyd, and they want to know my side. Whatever I’ve been through, it’s all over with now. It’s not about me,” he said.
There was no further explanation regarding Hall’s decision and Cousins’ office declined to comment beyond the notice filed with the court when contact by ACV.
In this image from police body cam video, a Minneapolis police officer approaches George Floyd with a gun drawn, on May 25, 2020, outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
Meanwhile Wednesday, jurors saw Minneapolis police officers' body camera footage showing how an initial confrontation over an alleged misdemeanor last May led to the death of George Floyd.
Below is a brief excerpt of the transcript from the officers’ body camera footage in the moments leading up to Floyd’s death. It was the longer version of the video referred to and linked in ACV’s article, also released Wednesday. The dialogue took place while Floyd was on the ground beside a police vehicle with Chauvin’s knee on his neck as a restraint. Present were Minneapolis police officers Alex Kueng, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and Chauvin, who is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death.
FROM THE OFFICERS' BODY CAMERA TRANSCRIPTS:
Floyd: I can't breathe.
Kueng: You're fine, you're talking fine.
Lane: Your talking. Deep breath.
Floyd: I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Ah! I'll probably just die this way.
Thao: Relax
Floyd: I can't breathe my face.
Lane: He's got to be on something.
Thao: What are you on?
Floyd: I can’t breathe. Please I can’t breathe. Sh--.
Bystander: Well get up and get in the car, man. Get up and get in the car.
Floyd: I will … I can't move.
Bystander: Let him get in the car.
Lane: We found a weed pipe on him, there might be something else, there might be like PCP or something. Is that the shaking of the eyes right is PCP?
Floyd: My knee, my neck.
Lane: Where their eyes like shake back and forth really fast?
Floyd: I’m through, through. I'm claustrophobic. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. I need some water or something, please. Please? I can't breathe officer.
Chauvin: Then stop talking, stop yelling.
George Floyd: You're going to kill me, man.
Chauvin: Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.
Floyd: Come on, man. Oh … I cannot breathe. I cannot breathe. Ah! They'll kill me. They'll kill me. I can't breathe. I can't breathe!
Prosecutors say Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he pleaded that he couldn't breathe. Prosecutors contend that Floyd's death was caused by Chauvin's knee.
But the defense has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do, and instead blame Floyd's illegal use of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, all found in his system at autopsy. Floyd also was found to suffer from chronic heart disease and high blood pressure, with the adrenaline flowing through his body at the time of his arrest potentially contributing to his death.
Wednesday was the third day of trial proceedings in the case involving Chauvin. The most serious charge against him carries up to 40 years in prison.