Brandon Mitchell, juror 52 in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, called Dr. Martin Tobin "the most influential witness out of everybody" when it came to jury deliberations and the eventual guilty verdicts.
"With Dr. Tobin speaking so scientifically, but also making it understandable for everyone, along with the exhibits he came with, I thought he broke it down in a way that was easy for all of the jurors to understand," Mitchell told Gayle King on Wednesday during CBS This Morning. "I didn't think there was any way for the defense to come back at the point. To me, the case was done at the point."
Mitchell, a 31-year-old basketball coach, is the first juror that deliberated the trial to speak publicly about the experience. He said that he did not feel pressure to reach a guilty verdict, especially with the global interest in the case.
"I don't think any of us felt like that, I for sure did not feel like that," he said. "The pressure came from being in the room and being under stress. The pressure didn't come from needing to find a guilty verdict."
The stress, according to Mitchell, came from being in the room ever day and repeatedly watching George Floyd's death.
"We were stressed that because every day we had to come in and watch a Black man die. That alone is stressful," Mitchell added. "Coming in each and every day and having to watch somebody die is stressful enough by itself. Anything outside of that was secondary."
After 10 hours of deliberations spanning two days, the jury came back with guilty verdicts finding Chauvin guilty on all charges including second and third degree murder, along with second degree manslaughter.
Mitchell called the deliberations straightforward and said there were a few hiccups understanding the terminology and instructions.
"We took a preliminary vote before taking a final vote on the manslaughter charge and the preliminary vote was 11 of us were already onboard with guilty for manslaughter, the other person was unsure," he said. "We went over it as a team and did another vote 40 minutes later and everyone was on page with guilty. It went very quickly."
Mitchell described himself to King as a "larger Black man" standing six-foot-four and 250 pounds and how the testimony about size being a risk or threat impacted him.
"I'm a gentle giant, but stuff like that affects me in a different way and I don't know if it impacts others in the same way."
Derek Chauvin opted to not testify, which Mitchell said possibly could have impacted the case.
"Somebody brought up that they would have liked to hear from him, but it is what it is," added Mitchell.
Derek Chauvin will be sentenced on June 25.
