Former Minneapolis Officer in George Floyd Case Appeals Murder Conviction

(Reuters) – Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has appealed his conviction and sentence for the homicide of George Floyd, arguing that the choose in his case abused his discretion and made a number of errors throughout the trial.

Within the attraction filed in Minnesota Court docket of Appeals on Monday, his legal professionals raised 14 separate points, together with Decide Peter Cahill’s resolution to disclaim Chauvin’s request to maneuver the trial out of Hennepin County, which incorporates Minneapolis, due to the extraordinary pretrial publicity.

“The overwhelming media protection uncovered the jurors —actually day-after-day – to information demonizing Chauvin and glorifying Floyd which was greater than adequate to presume prejudice,” the attraction stated.

Chauvin, a white man, was convicted in April 2021 of killing Floyd by kneeling on the Black man’s neck throughout a 2020 arrest. Chauvin was sentenced to 22-1/2 years. In December, Chauvin pleaded responsible in federal courtroom to fees he violated George Floyd’s civil rights.

A jury discovered Chauvin responsible of unintentional second-degree homicide, third-degree homicide and second-degree manslaughter within the loss of life of Floyd. The decision was broadly seen as a landmark rebuke of the disproportionate use of police drive towards Black Individuals.

The 82-page attraction requested the courtroom to reverse the conviction and maintain a brand new trial in a brand new venue or re-sentence Chauvin.

It additionally raised authorized arguments towards prosecutors, accusing them of misconduct by not disclosing all proof they’d and belittling the protection throughout closing arguments. It additionally stated that prosecutors improperly ready witnesses for testimony.

Minnesota Lawyer Normal Keith Ellison was not instantly out there to remark.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Enhancing by Tomasz Janowski)

Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.