Derek Chauvin appeals his murder conviction in the death of George Floyd
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Chauvin has filed an 82-page appeal listing over a dozen aspects of the case he and his lawyer say tainted last year’s trial.
The former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd has filed an appeal in his case.
According to CNN, Derek Chauvin has filed an 82-page appeal that lists more than a dozen aspects of the case that he and his attorney argue tainted last year’s proceedings. Among them are the extensive pretrial publicity and protests outside of the courthouse, as well as the announcement of the city’s $27 million settlement with the Floyd family, which came during jury selection.
In the appeal, Chauvin and his attorney William F. Mohrman are also asking the state Court of Appeals to review whether the venue for the trial should have been changed, if the jury should have been sequestered, as well as if the trial should have been delayed due to widespread protests and extensive coverage by the media.
Additional accusations include prosecutorial misconduct and failure to properly disclose discovery information.
The appeal is seeking to have Chauvin’s April 2021 conviction overturned or a new trial in a different venue. Chauvin and Mohrman claim that the proceedings were “so pervaded by error, misconduct and prejudice that they were structurally defective.”
Additionally, Chauvin asserts that even if his sentence is upheld, it should be reduced within the state’s sentencing guidelines for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, which is 10 years and eight months to 15 years.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.
Judge Peter Cahill wrote, at the time, that Chauvin warranted a harsher sentence because he abused “his position of trust and authority” and because of how he treated Floyd “without respect and denied him the dignity owed to all human beings.”
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin was videotaped kneeling on the neck of 46-year-old Floyd — a Black man he and three other Minneapolis police officers were arresting — for more than nine minutes, ultimately killing him. The recording of the murder sparked a summer of global protests and racial reckoning.
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