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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin listens as the verdict is read in his trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd on April 20 at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. Photo from the Associated Press/Court TV Pool.
Former Minneapolis police officer seeks new trial
Lawyers have filed a motion seeking a new trial for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the May 2020 death of George Floyd. The motion said the judge should have sequestered jurors, should have moved the location of the trial, and should have granted a new trial. The motion also sought a hearing into whether the jury committed misconduct or felt threatened but did not offer specifics. Some conservative commentators have seized on a photo of a juror who participated in a March on Washington event commemorating the “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. (The New York Times, NBC News, the Washington Post)
Cal Thomas
The guilty verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on all counts was correct, based on the evidence, but the theatrics leading up to that trial and after the jurors had made their decision was outrageous.
Demonstrations, riots and looting around the country since the death of George Floyd had to have influenced the jury, the media and public opinion.
Comments before, during and after the trial by politicians were unhelpful to put it mildly. Rep. Maxine Waters represents a district in California. Why did she go to Minnesota to urge people to âstay on the streetâ and âget more confrontationalâ if Chauvin was acquitted? She did something similar when she urged those opposed to Donald Trump to show up at restaurants, gas stations and other public places and get in the faces of Trump officials. Waters denied she was inciting lawless behavior, but she had no problem claiming Trump encouraged the January 6 insurrection at