A juror in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is speaking out.
Brandon Mitchell was one of 12 jurors in the Chauvin trial. Appearing on “Good Morning America” Wednesday, Mitchell was the first juror to speak out in a television interview.
He was asked by ABC News’ Robin Roberts on the show about what went on inside the jury room in the deliberations.
Mitchell said there were a “few hiccups” with terminology, adding, “There wasn’t too much banter back and forth.”
Asked if there was a “hold out” because of one juror, Mitchell shared, “I wouldn’t say slowing us down, but was being delicate with the process more so, was just kind of hung up on a few words within the instructions.”
Additionally, Mitchell was asked about some people who believe “the racial climate and the protests in the streets may have impacted the deliberations” and if that was discussed and “an issue at all.”
Chauvin trial juror Brandon Mitchell speaks out after the ex-officer’s conviction and brings us inside the deliberations. https://t.co/wwlfJzlegB pic.twitter.com/eCEs4t4uDx
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 28, 2021
He responded, “We weren’t watching the news, so we don’t know what was going on.”
Mitchell added, “We were really just locked in on the case. And there was so much stress coming from the case, I mean those things are so secondary because you’re literally, throughout the trial, you’re watching somebody die on a daily basis, so that stress alone is enough to take your mind away from whatever’s going on outside of the four walls of the courtroom.”
“I mean that was not even, that wasn’t even something that was in any of our minds, I don’t think so,” he said.
Last week, the jurors convicted Chauvin of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree “depraved mind” murder, and second-degree manslaughter charges.