MADISON, Wis. – Prosecutors trying a white former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd's death plan to use a legal doctrine called “spark of life” to humanize Floyd in front of jurors.
It's a doctrine with roots in a 1985 state Supreme Court case, and one that several legal experts said sets Minnesota apart in explicitly permitting such testimony ahead of a verdict.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank told Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill on Wednesday that he plans to invoke the doctrine during Derek Chauvin's trial.
It allows prosecutors to call witnesses to testify about crime victims' lives, ostensibly to portray them as more than a statistic.