The Supreme Court shot down Derek Chauvin's attempt at an appeal in the 2020 murder of George Floyd on Monday. The former Minnesota police officer is currently serving over 20 years in prison for the killing which sparked worldwide protests. His legal team argues that the conviction came during a period of political upheaval and jurors were influenced to not acquit out of fear of further protesting.
"This criminal trial generated the most amount of pretrial publicity in history," Chauvin's attorney William Morhmann said at the time, as noted by Fox News. "More concerning are the riots which occurred after George Floyd’s death (and) led the jurors to all express concerns for their safety in the event they acquitted Mr. Chauvin — safety concerns which were fully evidenced by surrounding the courthouse in barbed wire and National Guard troops during the trial and deploying the National Guard throughout Minneapolis prior to jury deliberations."
Derek Chauvin Booked For The Killing Of George Floyd
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22.5 years in prison after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in his 2021 trial. Chauvin kneeled on the neck of Floyd for just under 10 minutes prior to his death. Floyd repeatedly pleaded with officers, mentioning his inability to breathe.
Despite pleading guilty at the time, Chauvin says he's since heard from a Kansas pathologist who claims Floyd could've died from complications of a rare tumor called a paraganglioma. He and his legal team want to present that theory in court. They hope it would result in a successful appeal. Be on the lookout for further updates on Derek Chauvin's sentence on HotNewHipHop.
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