Lawyer Dershowitz says Congresswoman Waters used KKK tactics to intimidate Chauvin trial jury

Lawyer and political pundit Alan Dershowitz on Tuesday accused California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of having tried to use Ku Klux Klan tactics to intimidate jurors in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. 

Dershowitz made the comparison in a TV interview on Newsmax in response to Waters urging demonstrators in Minnesota on Saturday to "get more confrontational," if the jurors did not convict Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer, for killing George Floyd in May 2020.

The demonstrators were protesting Brooklyn Center, Minn., resident Daunte Wright recently being fatally shot by police during a traffic stop. 

"The Klan would march outside of courthouses and threaten all kinds of reprisals if the jury ever dared convict a white person or acquit a black person," Dershowitz said, according to Business Insider. "Her message was clearly intended to get to the jury: 'If you will acquit or if you find the charge less than murder, we will burn down your buildings. We will burn down your businesses. We will attack you.' " Dershowitz said of the California congresswoman's comments.

The jury found Chauvin guilty of all three counts – second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.