Derek Chauvin, a former police officer from Minnesota, was found guilty of murdering George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020. The Supreme Court chose not to hear his appeal.
Chauvin and his defense team said that the prospect of more violent rioting swayed the jury if he was found not guilty at his trial in Minneapolis in 2021, which occurred during political turbulence.
During the appeal, William Morhmann, who represented Chauvin, said this criminal trial had the pretrial publicity ever. The jurors voiced fears for their safety if they found Mr. Chauvin not guilty due to the disturbances that broke out after George Floyd’s murder. The presence of barbed wire and National Guard soldiers around the courtroom throughout the trial and their deployment in Minneapolis before jury deliberations were clear indications of these safety concerns.
Chauvin’s conviction remains since the Minnesota Supreme Court chose not to review the matter. A jail term of more than twenty years awaits the ex-officer.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, when, despite his cries for help, Chauvin knelt on his neck for about ten minutes.
After a jury convicted Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, Judge Peter Cahill of Hennepin County handed down a sentence of 22.5 years.
In a second petition filed this week, Chauvin said that new information suggests he was not responsible for Floyd’s murder and that he would not have pled guilty in 2021 if he had known about the findings of a Kansas pathologist he had spoken to in February.
In his motion, Chauvin asks the court to vacate his civil rights conviction and set up a new trial or hearing where he may submit fresh evidence.
In his account, Dr. William Schaetzel of Topeka, Kansas, advised Chauvin that the paraganglioma, a rare tumor, was probably the reason for Floyd’s death. It can potentially deliver a lethal adrenaline spike.
While reviewing the autopsy results, the pathologist refrained from doing a physical examination of Floyd’s remains.
If the jury had heard the pathologist’s testimony, Chauvin claims they would not have found him guilty.
The death of Floyd ignited riots and demonstrations throughout Europe and the United States. Cities and towns throughout the nation saw the destruction of police stations, small businesses, and automobiles as a result of the turmoil.
