Bream: We have to trust the jurors to make right decision in Derek Chauvin trial
'Fox News @ Night' host joins 'Fox News Primetime' with reaction to day 4 of the Minneapolis murder trial
The Derek Chauvin trial "is a very raw, emotional issue" for America, but "we have to trust" the justice system at work, Fox News Chief Legal Correspondent and "Fox News @ Night" host Shannon Bream told "Fox News Primetime" Thursday
BREAM: This is a very raw, emotional issue for this country and ... anybody who's watched the George Floyd tape, it is horrifying. No one wants to see another human being suffering or dying. But when you go into a courtroom -- and this is me as a lawyer now -- what happens is there are rules that are meant to take the emotion out of this. Judges are supposed to do that. There are rules of evidence, rules of procedure, and we ask jurors to do a very difficult thing, which is to look at the evidence and make a judgment.
At the core of all of that ... is due process. We all, as Americans, should want that for our best friend, for our worst enemy. We may need it ourselves one day. And we have to trust that the system, when all of this evidence is brought in -- we're hearing from witness after witness right now for the prosecution, they're being cross-examined -- that we have to trust those jurors to make a good decision. They have several counts in front of them that they can decide about this former police officer [Derek Chauvin], but it is unfair to put on those jurors the weight of this entire issue. If we think there needs to be criminal justice reform, and our system isn't perfect but I happen to think it's the best in the world. There's always room for improvement, but we can't expect these jurors to solve all of those problems in this case.
We're in the prosecution phase right now. So you're hearing from witnesses who were there on the scene, people who took some of those videos, paramedics who showed up also testified today. We heard from an off-duty firefighter who was also an EMT who said that she wanted to intercede. We also heard from George Floyd's girlfriend who talked very emotionally about him. There was some cross-examination going on. But we have to remember, this is the first phase. This is the prosecution. The defense will also have its opportunity at some point down the line. They are raising their objections as a defense team would do. But what you're hearing right now is very emotional because you're hearing from people who were on the scene and we've heard from witnesses who said, "I wish I'd done more." There's also a witness that we found out today is not going to testify. He was somebody who was in the car with George Floyd when officers were there. He's going to take the Fifth. So a lot of developments, very fast-moving trial at this point.
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