Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted in April 2021 of murdering George Floyd, has appealed his conviction, arguing that he was deprived of a fair trial.
His attorney, William Mohrman, filed a petition for review with the Minnesota Supreme Court on May 17, arguing that the district judge’s decision not to move the proceedings out of the city deprived his client of a fair trial.
“We’re very hopeful that the Minnesota Supreme Court will accept review of the case,” Mohrman said.
In his petition, Morhman argued that the case presents the state Supreme Court with important questions on “developing and clarifying due process requirements to transfer venue when there is unprecedented pervasive pretrial publicity coupled with community violence.”
A photograph from the event, posted on social media, showed Mitchel, who is black, wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. emblazoned with the words “Get your knee off our necks,” and “BLM,” (Black Lives Matter).
Floyd’s Death
However, the Court of Appeals declined to send the case back to the trial judge for a hearing on whether the juror’s failure to disclose his attendance at the event ahead of the trial amounted to misconduct.Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed on May 25, 2020, by Chauvin during an arrest after Floyd allegedly tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes.
Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd’s neck for approximately nine-and-a-half minutes as Floyd lay handcuffed and face-down on the pavement.
Another officer, Thomas Lane, restrained his lower body, and Officer J. Alexander Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back.
Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter charges in Floyd’s death in April 2021, and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
Nationwide Protests
The latest petition comes a month after the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Chauvin’s conviction for second-degree murder and let his 22.5-year sentence remain in place.Chauvin’s attorney had asked the appeals court to throw out the ex-officer’s convictions, citing multiple reasons including the huge amount of publicity ahead of the trial and various legal and procedural errors that he argued deprived Chauvin of a fair trial.
The appeal proved to be unsuccessful and the three-judge panel ultimately agreed with prosecutors that Chauvin received a fair trial and just sentence.
Floyd’s death triggered widespread left-wing demonstrations across the country, many of which were peaceful although others turned violent, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in damage to some businesses from looting and arson.