The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a lower court should reconsider whether to add a third-degree murder charge to Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who is on trial next week for the death of George Floyd.
The verdict, which was due to begin a few days before the jury’s hearing in Chauvin’s trial on Monday, also raises the possibility of a delay in the trial. The unanimous decision by the Court of Appeal means that the trial court again arguments of Mr. Chauvin and prosecutors from the Minnesota Attorney General can hear about whether Mr. Chauvin must face charges of third-degree murder.
He is already facing a serious charge of second-degree murder, as well as second-degree murder. A third-degree murder charge would give prosecutors an extra way to get convicted.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric J. Nelson, can appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Third-degree murder was the first charge Mr. Chauvin faced offensive after being arrested in the days following Floyd’s death on May 25. The complaint at the time led to an outcry from both activists and advocates, who said that Mr. Chauvin had to face a worse charge and that a third-degree murder charge did not suit the circumstances of Mr. Floyd’s death not.
According to them, third-degree murder in Minnesota has long been understood as an act – ‘according to a perverted mind’, according to the law – that is dangerous for a group of people, rather than for one person. An example often cited is a suspect firing a gun randomly into a passing train, or someone driving a car to a crowd. In addition, drug dealers in Minnesota are often prosecuted for third-degree murder when one of their clients dies from an overdose.
According to the interpretation of the third-degree murder, Judge Peter A. Cahill, who presided over the trial of Mr. Chauvin, dismissed the charge last year and confirmed the other charges.
But a recent ruling by the Court of Appeal in a separate case apparently reformed the interpretation of third-degree murder. The court has convicted the third-degree murderer of Mohamed Noor, a former police officer who shot dead a woman while on duty. The court ruled that third-degree murder could be applied in a case in which the suspect’s actions are dangerous to a single person.
Judge Cahill said he disagreed with the appellate court’s decision when prosecutors recently tried to reinstate the third-degree murder charge, which carries up to 25 years in prison if convicted, and that it is not binding because the Minnesota Supreme Court can still undo it.
An appeal court judge wrote in an 18-page ruling Friday that Judge Cahill erred in saying he should not follow the precedent of the Norwegian case. The appeals panel of three judges ordered the lower court to reconsider the state’s motion to return the third-degree murder charge and said Judge Cahill could decide to add additional arguments from Mr. To hear Chauvin’s counsel against the motion.
Understand the George Floyd case
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- On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after a clerk in the store used a fake $ 20 bill to buy cigarettes.
- Mr. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, one of the police officers, handcuffed him and pinned him to the ground with a knee, an episode captured on video.
- The death of mr. Floyd sparked a series of protests against police brutality.
- Mr. Chauvin, along with three other Minneapolis police officers, was fired. He is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree murder and is now on trial, which begins on March 8.
- This is what we know so far in the case and how the trial is expected to unfold.
Chauvin’s lawyer did not immediately send an e-mail to comment on the decision. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that he agrees with the court’s decision and that prosecutors “look forward to submitting all charges to the jury.”
The opening statements in the trial of Mr. Chauvin is expected to begin on March 29 after a week-long selection process. City officials erected security barricades around government buildings and business owners began opening shop windows. The National Guard has also been deployed to secure the city and is holding protest marches that could provoke the trial.
The death of mr. Floyd, who gasped for air while Mr. Chauvin pushed himself with his knee to the concrete outside a convenience store, was caught on video from a bystander’s cell phone and caused huge protests in Minneapolis and cities and towns across the country. . The episode began when a clerk at the supermarket in South Minneapolis called 911 and said that Mr. Floyd tried to use a counterfeit $ 20 bill to buy cigarettes.
Three other officers seen in the video while trying to kill Mr. Arresting Floyd, two of whom were rookies, has been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree murder and is expected to stand trial in August. They are one day after mr. Floyd’s death with Mr. Chauvin fired.
Only a few days after Mr. Floyd died, Chauvin agreed to plead guilty to third-degree murder and to more than ten years in prison, but the plea agreement was lifted when it was overturned by William P. Barr, who was then the U.S. Attorney General.
The federal government was in talks to proceed with the plea agreement, so Mr. Chauvin would not face federal charges in the future. But Mr. Barr eventually rejected the deal, in part because Minnesota’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, was preparing to take over the case from the state’s prosecutor, and Mr. Barr wanted to let Mr. Ellison decides whether to negotiate a plea or to try the case.
Shaila Dewan and Matt Furber reported.