MINNEAPOLIS — After three days of jury selection, testimony has begun in the trial of Rep. John Thompson on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing the legal process.
The six jurors and one alternate heard from starkly different theories from the competing trial lawyers about the circumstances that led to Thompson's arrest in 2019 during a lockdown of North Memorial Hospital.
Robbinsdale city prosecutor Derek Archambault told jurors that Thompson interfered with an officer who was trying to restrict access to the emergency room, and contended the hospital went from a soft lockdown to a hard lockdown due to Thompson's demeanor.
Thompson was one of dozens of people who converged on North Memorial on Nov. 21, 2019 after hearing that a 19-year-old man had shot himself in the head in an apparent suicide attempt in Faribault. Thompson had known the victim since he was six years old.
Robbinsdale Officer Nichole Saba testified that hospital staff and a few police officers were trying to contain emotions after a fight broke out between two women in the lobby. She said when she encountered Thompson, he refused to accept that family and friends were being kept out of the emergency room.
"We tried to talk to him, we tried to explain it to him, but he kept interrupting us and wouldn’t listen to us. He was being very hostile."
Officer Saba told jurors that when she tried to close the double doors to keep Thompson and others from entering the ER, he briefly stood in the way. She said she had to throw the entire left side of her body into the door to push it shut.
Jurors saw an excerpt of Saba's body camera footage of the encounter. Thompson can be heard complaining to a hospital staff member that they were being insensitive to the families.
"What’s going on? We have this whole floor shut down when we have a loved one with bullet in his head! Let’s talk about sensitivity. We don’t need security guards ushering us to the cafeteria," Thompson can be heard saying in the body camera footage.
Thompson made it clear he thought the staff was overreacting because of the race of the people who were trying to the emergency room.
"Who’s not safe here? This is white fragility. Black people in the hospital? Why do you feel unsafe? Yelling? I’m not yelling. You’re not used to dealing with Black people, boy!"
On cross examination from defense attorney Jordan Kushner, Saba conceded she didn't know exactly who declared a hard lockdown of the hospital and she wasn't in position to determine whether that person was reacting to Thompson or something else.
At the same time she was talking to Thompson, a crowd was growing in the lobby. Saba and hospital security asked for assistance from surround law enforcement agency to help control the crowd and protect the parts of the ER that were off limits to the public.
During his opening statement, defense attorney Jordan Kushner said that Thompson’s wife Lee asked if she could use a restroom and officers told her to “go pee outside,” a comment that triggered Thompson.
Kushner said as more officers arrived to surround Thompson, he became more agitated because he thought the huge show of force was racially motivated. Eventually he got into a heated verbal altercation with Robbinsdale Sgt. Chris Woodhall.
They exchanged insults, both calling each other "idiots" during the exchange. Eventually, Sgt. Woodhall placed Thompson under arrest, a process that took only 50 seconds.
But Woodhall said Thompson resisted initially, by tensing up his body and clinching his fists. He said he needed help from other officers to bring Thompson under control.
Thompson’s attorney Kushner told the jury that Thompson was reacting because the officers hurt his arm, which was sensitive because he'd undergone rotator cuff surgery the year before.
Kushner also said the arrest also took Thompson by surprise, because he thought he was having a heated discussion with the officers.
During jury selection Kushner asked prospective jurors how they felt about the right to protest and the right for protesters to express anger. Prosecutor Derek Archambault reminded the jury several times that North Memorial is private property and hospital staff members have the right to request that visitors leave the premises.
The crime of obstructing the legal process is a misdemeanor. It’s defined in Minnesota's criminal code as when a person intentionally obstructs, resists, or interferes with a peace officer while the officer is engaged in the performance of official duties.
This type of charge is often filed again people who question the authority of police, but it's extremely rare for someone to go through a jury trial
The maximum sentence is 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The trial jury consists of four white women, one Black woman, one white man and one white male alternate juror. Misdemeanor cases only require a six jurors.
When the trial resumes on Monday jurors will see Sgt. Woodhall's body camera footage.