The police officer who killed African-American George Floyd in 2020 requested this Thursday to have his murder conviction overturned, claiming the excessive media coverage of the case and the risk of rioting did not allow him a “fair” trial.
Derek Chauvin, 46, was found guilty of murder by a Northern Minnesota State Judge after a highly contested 2021 trial and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.
His lawyer William Mohrman on Thursday before a panel of judges defended the annulment of the trial, in the first place because the hearings had not proceeded peacefully, given the threats of violence around the court.
“The main question of this appeal is whether a defendant can receive a fair trial in a court surrounded by concrete blocks, barbed wire, armored personnel carriers and National Guard troops present in the event of his acquittal?”he wondered.
Whatever the outcome of this appeal, Derek Chauvin will remain in prison because he pleaded guilty to George Floyd’s “violation of civil rights” before a federal judge and was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2022.
Three other officers, who remained passive during George Floyd’s agony, received prison terms of between two and a half and three and a half years.
On May 25, 2020, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer stationed in Minneapolis for 19 years, knelt on the black man’s neck for more than 10 minutes, indifferent to his death rumors and the complaints of panicked passersby.
The scene, filmed and distributed, sparked massive demonstrations against racism and police brutality in the US and abroad.
The judges have 90 days to make their decision.
Source: DN
