A former police officer in Minneapolis was found guilty of murder in connection with the death of George Floyd in 2020. Nonetheless, Derek Chauvin appeals to the Minnesota Supreme Court to review his conviction after being denied of a fair trial.
On May 25, 2020, the death of George Floyd, then 46, was captured in a body camera footage. The video revealed now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck and back for over 9 minutes. Floyd, on the other hand, was seen gasping for air and stating that he cannot breathe.An article in CNN states that in April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree unintentional murder, and third-degree murder. Consequently, Chauvin was sentenced in Minnesota to 22 years and 6 months in prison. In addition, he was to serve 21 years simultaneous to his state sentence after pleading guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
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Derek Chauvin Appeals to State Supreme Court
According to Shapero, to date, Chauvin is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona. However, on May 17, Derek Chauvin appeals to the Minnesota Supreme Court to review his murder conviction. This was a month after an appeals court rejected his request for a new trial where he asked for a change of venue.
In the documents filed by Chauvin’s attorneys, they cited several reasons, insisting among other things, that a district court deprived Chauvin of his right to a fair trial due to “pervasive adverse publicity”. The attorneys claimed that Derek Chauvin appeals for a review because their reasons are indeed grounds for a new trial.
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