'It will be Herculean' for Chauvin's lawyers to overcome evidence in George Floyd killing: CNN legal analyst

CNN legal analyst Laura Coates on Tuesday said that former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin's lawyers have a tough task ahead of them after seeing early evidence presented at the trial.

Coates explained that Chauvin's defense attorneys would have to prove that George Floyd was such a potential danger to police officers that it would justify Chauvin keeping his knee on his neck for nine straight minutes and never checking his pulse even after he had stopped moving.

"Unless they can show somehow that he was a threat to the officers, and a need for the use of any force, let alone excessive force, they're going to have a more than an uphill battle," she said. "It will be Herculean for them to overcome this presentation of evidence."

Coates then said she expected prosecutors to call at least five witnesses who would all tell the same stories about how they heard Floyd pleading with Chauvin that he couldn't breathe before he lost consciousness and eventually died, which would help solidify the narrative of what happened in the minds of jurors.

"These themes are going to be a part of the trial to stick in the juror's mind," she explained.

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