Welcome to our ongoing coverage of the Minnesota murder trial of Derek Chauvin, over the in-custody death of George Floyd. I am Attorney Andrew Branca for Law of Self Defense, providing guest commentary and analysis of this trial for Legal Insurrection.
Back on January 26 the defense for Derek Chauvin notified the court and the state prosecutors of a number of expert witnesses it plans to have testify for the defense at trial. These included a number of medical expert witnesses, including a forensic pathologist, a forensic toxicologist, a forensic psychiatrist, and an expert physician in emergency medicine.
In addition to all those medical experts the defense also planned to call an expert on use of force generally and the Minneapolis Policies and Procedures for use of force in particular. That expert is Barry Brodd, out of Bozeman MT. (A copy of Mr. Brodd’s resume, with contact information obscured, is embedded below.)
I’ve no personal experience with Mr. Brodd, but I do know that he was the use-of-force expert witness for the defense in the trial of Jason Van Dyke, the then Chicago Police Officer who would ultimately be convicted of murder and sentenced to just under seven years for the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on October 20, 2014, when police confronted McDonald as he was wandering erratically down the street wielding a knife.
My point here is not to dive into the Van Dyke/McDonald case, but if you’d like to see some of our analysis on that case you can find it here:
Laquan McDonald Video Not Dispositive of Police Criminal Misconduct (Nov. 25, 2015)
No Surprise: Police Shooter of Laquan McDonald Convicted (Oct. 8, 2018)
I mention the Van Dyke/McDonald case here because I’ve obtained video of the expert testimony of Mr. Brodd in that case for the defense, and though it might interest folks to get a sense of how he presents as an expert in court.
This video of Brodd’s testimony at the Van Dyke trial is a bit under 30 minutes in length. The more interesting portion of the direct testimony (questioning by the defense) begins after Brodd has recited his qualifications and been recognized by the court as an expert in use-of-force [at about 06:00]. At that point he begins sharing with the court his expert opinion on whether Van Dyke’s shooting of McDonald was legally justified.
Perhaps the most interesting portion of that direct testimony is at about 12:23 when there is an in court demonstration of the Tueller Drill, using a rubber knife with Brodd as the aggressor and defense counsel as the victim, at a measured distance of 13 feet, the distance at which Van Dyke shot McDonald.
Then at [15:10] we have a very aggressive cross-examination by the prosecutor, followed by a re-direct by the defense and a re-cross by the state.
There’s nothing all that noteworthy from my perspective about this testimony in the Van Dyke trial, either the direct, the demonstration, or the cross, but having found this testimony video of the use-of-force expert chosen by the Chauvin defense team, I thought you all might be interested in having a preview peek at that defense expert.
And here’s that video of Barry Broddy, use-of-force expert witness, testifying at the murder trial of Jason Van Dyke:
Until next time, stay safe!
–Andrew
Attorney Andrew F. Branca
Law of Self Defense LLC
Attorney Andrew F. Branca’s legal practice has specialized exclusively in use-of-force law for thirty years. Andrew provides use-of-force legal consultancy services to attorneys across the country, as well as near-daily use-of-force law insight, expertise, and education to lawyers and non-lawyers alike in the form of blog posts, video, and podcasts, through the Law of Self Defense Membership service. If this kind of content is of interest to you, try out our two-week Membership trial for a mere 99 cents, with a 200% no-question- asked money-back guarantee, here: Law of Self Defense Membership Trial.
As promised, here’s a copy of Mr. Brodd’s resume:
Barry Brodd Resume No Contact by Law of Self Defense on Scribd
https://www.scribd.com/document/500187618/Barry-Brodd-Resume-No-Contact
[Featured image is a screen capture from video of Mr. Brodd’s testimony in Illinois v. Van Dyke.]
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