The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to reconsider the appellate court’s ruling, saying a third-degree murder charge against the former Minneapolis police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd was improperly dismissed.
Derek Chauvin is already facing charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who presided over the trial, had earlier dismissed an additional third-degree murder charge.
Cahill will now be given the task of determining the fate of the third-degree charge of murdering Chauvin. At the end of Wednesday’s proceedings, Cahill said he would address the situation the next morning.
“It appears that the Supreme Court has denied the review of the defendant’s petition for review by the Court of Appeal,” Cahill said in court Wednesday. “I think we can talk about this at 08:00 tomorrow morning about its effect. I think we still have the legal question at the appellate court.”
Attorney General of Minnesota Keith Ellison
Keith Ellison Jury selection begins in Derek Chauvin’s trial on Floyd’s death, whose office is prosecuting the high-profile case, praised the court’s ruling and called the third-degree murder charge “fair and appropriate”.
“The Supreme Court has rightly refused to reject Chauvin’s request for review,” Ellison said in a statement. ‘The Court of Appeal ruled correctly; there was therefore no need for the Supreme Court to intervene. degree murder is fair and appropriate. ”
He continued, “we look forward to putting it before the jury, along with charges of second-degree murder and second-degree murder.”
The news came after an Minnesota appellate court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling and cleared the way for Ellison to reinstate the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin. Following the court’s ruling, Chauvin’s lawyers filed a motion to challenge the decision.
The decision of the Supreme Court comes at the end of the second day of the selection of juries for the Chauvin trial. So far, five jurors have sat: three white men, a woman of color and a black man, according to NBC News. The actual trial is scheduled to begin on March 29.
Chauvin is the officer who was seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes in the May 2020 viral video.