The judge in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin ruled that he would not allow prosecutors to present new evidence – laboratory tests with information on George Floyd’s carbon monoxide levels – with their rebuttal witness.
Prosecutors, it revealed in court, approved Chauvin’s defense that the county’s medical examiner discovered laboratory results that speak to Floyd’s carbon monoxide levels.
The provincial medical examiner told prosecutors he found these results after listening to testimony from Dr. David Fowler, a defense witness who said Wednesday that Floyd may have suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning before his death. Fowler said Floyd’s blood had to be tested over this.
Judge Peter Cahill ruled that prosecutors could not disclose these test results when they called their rebuttal witness, saying it was too late and would not be fair to Chauvin’s defense.
‘I find that dr. Fowler’s report gave sufficient notice [to] the state that the carbon monoxide that was in George Floyd’s blood could affect the cause of death, ”Cahill said in a review released by Fowler months ago. ‘Actually, dr. Fowler immediately came out and said it should be tested. ‘
This gave prosecutors time to test any Floyd blood samples that might remain or to find old lab results on this topic and transfer them to Chauvin’s defense.
“It seems very strange to me,” Cahill remarked on the new discovery of the appropriate results by the medical examiner. While Cahill says he did not think prosecutors acted in good faith, “it is untimely to give the notice, and it has harmed the defense by the late disclosure.”
“It will not be allowed.”
“Dr. Tobin will not be able to testify about the laboratory results,” Cahill said of Dr. Martin Tobin, an expert pulmonologist who previously testified for the prosecution and is being recalled today.
“If he even indicates that there are test results that the jury has not yet heard, there will be an erroneous, pure and simple process.”
However, Tobin can testify about carbon monoxide if he ‘sticks to the environmental factors’, such as watching videos and giving an opinion on the likelihood of exposure to gas.
Tobin’s testimony is expected to begin at 10:15 a.m. CT.