If you tune into the Derek Chauvin trial, and it's hard to avoid these days, with

gavel-to-gavel coverage online and daily recaps push to your phone, one of the things you'll

notice is just how many people there are, at least representing the prosecution.

What's interesting here is that the prosecution team, I think you can call it robust.

John Collins is covering the trial for Minnesota Public Radio.

The Minnesota Attorney General is spearheading this prosecution.

And not only do they have Keith Olson's team, but they have the team

at the Hennepin County attorney who typically would be the ones who prosecute a district court

case like this. And they have all these pro bono attorneys who are just volunteering their time, including Neil Katjol.

Former Solicitor General.

Sure, yeah, and well known for arguing many cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The prosecution's opening statement was delivered not by a government lawyer, but a local

civil rights attorney, the founder of the Minnesota Association of Black

Lawyers. And something that surprises John is that it isn't just the lawyers who are working for free.

When lawyers call an expert witness, they're paid. They're paid. And, you know, it could be up

$12,000 even more. So significant amounts of money. Yeah, and it's actually the first time

I've seen expert witnesses who testified who are being paid nothing. Huh. They're just volunteering

their time because they said, both of them sat on the stand because it's an important case

and they thought they might have something to give to it. So far, this kind of charity has not extended to the defense of Derek Chauvin,

the police officer accused of killing George Floyd last year,

by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Public opinion is very strong in this case, for obvious reasons.

...