A juror in Derek Chauvin's murder trial says it 'felt like every day was a funeral'

• Brandon Mitchell was one of the 12 jurors who found Derek Chauvin guilty in George Floyd's death.
• He told CNN that it "felt like every day was a funeral."
• He also said watching videos of Floyd's fatal arrest multiple times a day was "extremely draining."

One of the jurors on Derek Chauvin's murder trial has described the pressure sitting on the trial, saying every day in court "felt like a funeral."

Brandon Mitchell, a 31-year-old high-school basketball coach, is the first juror who deliberated on the case to speak out, giving interviews to CNN and "Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell" this week. An alternate juror, who was not part of the deliberations, is the only other juror to speak publicly.

"It was just dark. It felt like every day was a funeral and watching someone die every day," Mitchell told CNN on Tuesday. "It was tense every day. I wasn't nervous, but it was stressful. It was a lot of pressure."

During the trial, Mitchell said jurors had to watch the video of Floyd's death five to six times a day, which was "extremely draining." He told Campbell that he had to look away at times.

Mitchell told Campbell that one of the most emotional moments of the trial for him was when Floyd's brother Philonise testified. He called it a "super rough day."

Mitchell said the testimony of the pulmonary expert Martin J. Tobin was what sealed the prosecution's case for him. Tobin testified that Floyd died due to a lack of oxygen caused by Chauvin's kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes, while trying to arrest him on suspicion of passing a fake $20 bill.

"Once Dr. Tobin was finished with his testimony, I felt like the trial was done. He spoke everything in laymen's terms, and it made sense," Mitchell told CNN.

Jurors were only trying to convince one person, Mitchell says

However, he said the guilty verdict wasn't a done deal when he and the jurors first started deliberating. Mitchell said one juror in particular took some persuading to come to their side.

"We sat in the room and argued for a few hours, pretty much with just one person ... just trying to get them on board with where everybody else was," Mitchell told Campbell.

"We probably deliberated total for like four or five hours where we were just going back and forth and I felt like it should have been 20 minutes," Mitchell said. In total, the jury deliberated for nearly 10 hours.

In the end, everyone was in agreement about their decision to find Chauvin guilty on second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, Mitchell said.

"I think everybody was definitely at peace with that. Everybody was OK with it after we deliberated and we had to do some explaining to a few people, breaking it down a bit further. Everybody was on the same page for sure, no question," Mitchell told Campbell.

'I just needed to be around some love'

Mitchell said the first thing he did when the trial wrapped was go to his mother's house, and he's spent the last few days "decompressing."

"I just needed to be around some love," Mitchell said on Campbell's program.

While Mitchell had to miss the end of his basketball team's season to serve on the jury, he said he knew from the beginning that it was important to serve.

Mitchell was the sole African-American male on the jury: The rest of the jury comprised of one Black woman, two men of African descent, two multiracial women, two white men, and four white women.

Last week the judge on the case ordered the names of all the jurors to be sealed, in order to protect their security, but said that each juror was free to disclose their identity and speak about the case "with whomever they wish."

Mitchell told Campbell: "I said even in my initial interviews to the lawyers, I felt like it was a historic moment and that we would have a chance to make history by bring jurors on that case. So I knew from the gate what it was and what it could be."

He added to CNN: "We haven't seen an outcome like this on a case. I really think this is a start and I think it's a good start."

Chauvin's sentencing is scheduled for June.