Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer convicted of the murder of George Floyd, is appealing his conviction, saying among other things that the jury was intimidated by sometimes violent demonstrations and influenced by the heavy media coverage before the trial.
Chauvin is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to overturn the verdict, require a new trial in another city, or order a new sentence.
Last June, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22½ years in prison, after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and homicide. involuntary in the second degree.
George Floyd, an African-American, died on May 25, 2020 when Officer Chauvin held him to the ground, one knee on his neck, for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.
Mr. Floyd was suspected of wanting to pay with a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. Three other police officers have also been charged in the case.
Intimidated jurors?
Derek Chauvin’s attorney, William Mohrman, made a number of arguments, including his long-held argument that the trial should not have taken place in Hennepin County, where Mr Floyd was killed.
“The overwhelming media coverage exposed the jurors — literally every day — to news demonizing Mr. Chauvin and glorifying Mr. Floyd, which was more than enough to infer the existence of bias,” the appeal motion states.
In the months since Mr. Floyd’s murder, demonstrators have taken to the streets of Minneapolis and across the country to protest against police brutality and racism. Some of these protests have been violent.
Mr. Mohrman argued that during jury selection, several candidates expressed concerns for their safety if Chauvin were ever to be acquitted. According to the lawyer, several candidates would have indicated that they were intimidated by the security measures put in place at the courthouse to protect the participants in the trial from demonstrators.
He also maintains that the jurors should have been isolated after the selection to avoid being influenced by the reports of the murder of a police officer very close to the place where the Chauvin trial was held.
The attorney also cited the $27 million out-of-court settlement between the City and Mr. Floyd’s family, which was announced during jury selection, which he said may have influenced them. Mr. Mohrman also cited several instances of alleged misconduct by the prosecution and errors of law by the trial judge.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has 45 days to respond to the motion from Chauvin’s lawyers.
The call came as the Minnesota Department of Human Rights released the results of a nearly two-year investigation into the murder of George Floyd.
The report concludes that the Minneapolis Police Department had been plagued for at least 10 years in a culture of racial discrimination, including stopping and arresting black people at a higher rate than white people, more often using force on people racialized and tolerating racist language.