The ruling came almost a year after lawyers made their closing arguments in the September 2023 judge-alone trial, which was shown footage of Ahmo's final moments of consciousness — including a nearly 21-minute video that showed the inmate saying "I can't breathe" more than 20 times while under restraint in the prone position.

The judge said his review included considering the fact that Ahmo had been pepper-sprayed during the course of the altercation, something court heard can often make people feel like they can't breathe.

He said there "was every reason to believe" Ahmo's comments about not being able to breathe were because of that spray, "particularly given that Mr. Ahmo continued to fight, resist and struggle, and given that Mr. Ahmo can be seen breathing heavily at times on the video by virtue of his chest contracting in and out — something that would have been visible to those that were present ... including the accused."

if you're being restrained by racist cops in such a way that you can't breathe, attempting to struggle to keep from being murdered will be taken as evidence that you can in fact breathe