© Provided by NBC News Jury selection in the murder trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death began Tuesday with the first potential juror being excused after she said during questioning that she thought the way the officer had acted was "not fair."
The woman, a married mother of three from Mexico and a nursing assistant, said that when she first saw bystander video showing Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, she remembered thinking: "He can't do that."
She said she recalled Floyd saying, "I can't breathe."
"My opinion is, when he tell the guy, 'I can't breathe' and he still do that ... ," she said, adding that she observed other police officers at the scene and wondered why they didn't intervene. "What I feel, that's not fair because we are humans."
Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, asked the woman whether she could change her mind if she saw other evidence during the trial. She said that she could.
Nelson pointed out that she answered on her juror questionnaire before reporting Tuesday that she wanted to be on the jury because "I would like to give my opinion of the unjust death of George Floyd."
About an hour into jury selection, she was dismissed. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill had earlier rejected Nelson's request to remove her for cause over concerns about her proficiency in English.
At least three jurors were excused Tuesday, while two were seated - a white man who is a chemist from Minneapolis and a woman originally from northern Minnesota, who told Nelson she was "super excited" to have received a jury summons.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. A bystander recorded video of Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on Floyd's neck for about nine minutes. Three other officers involved are scheduled to stand trial in August.
Jury selection proceeded despite uncertainty over whether a third-degree murder charge will be added. The state has asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals to stop proceedings until that is resolved, which could delay the trial by at least 30 days, Cahill said Monday.
The chemist was the second potential juror to be questioned. He said that because of his profession, he considers himself "a pretty logical person."
"I rely on facts and logic and what's in front of me," he said. "Opinion and facts are important distinctions for me."
He was questioned at length by Nelson about such things as his opinion of the Minneapolis Police Department, as well as his responses to questions on the juror questionnaire about the Black Lives Matter movement and Blue Lives Matter cause, which he said he did not believe were "mutually exclusive."
"I don't love the Black Lives Matter organization," the man said. "I do support the movement. I support the message that every life should matter equally."
He added: "I don't believe that the organization Black Lives Matter necessarily stands for that. I do think that the phrase and the movement stand for that."
The man also said he has not seen video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck.
"I have not seen the video," he told Nelson. "There's a still image that was pretty common. That's the most I've seen."
He was then questioned for a few minutes by the prosecution before being selected.
The third potential juror was quickly excused after she told Cahill, "I don't know that I could promise to be impartial."