MINNEAPOLIS: The stomach-churning video of George Floyd's death under the knee of a Minneapolis policeman took center stage as arguments in the politically charged murder trial opened Monday.

Prosecutors sought to demonstrate that white then-police officer Derek Chauvin had no justification for using the dangerous move for some nine minutes on Floyd, an African-American man, last May during an arrest on a minor charge.

But Chauvin's attorney countered that he would prove that Floyd was on drugs, forcing officers to take tough action, and that his death was caused by the drugs and a medical condition rather than asphyxiation.

"Nine minutes and 29 seconds. That's how long that went on," Minnesota state prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said of the amount of time Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck as he lay handcuffed on a Minneapolis street.