Chauvin Files Appeal For New Trial, States Jurors Were Subjected to Pretrial Publicity

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who was convicted of killing Black man George Floyd, has filed an appeal for a new trial. Fox News reports Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson filed the request Tuesday and “alleges that the former police officer’s ability to have a fair trial was affected by pretrial publicity. It also claims that the court abused its discretion by refusing to grant requests for a change in venue outside of Minneapolis and a new trial.”

Specifically, the filing says the court failed to sequester the jury or “admonish them to avoid all media.” It also states jurors were subjected to prejudicial publicity and “jury intimidation or potential fear of retribution.”

Nelson also claimed that the prosecution had “committed pervasive prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct, which deprived Mr. Chauvin of his constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial.” Chauvin is set to be sentenced next month after he was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter last month.

Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison filed paperwork last week requesting Chauvin receive a more severe prison sentence because he treated Floyd with “particular cruelty.” Ellison noted Floyd yelled for his mother and lost consciousness, but the “defendant continued to maintain his position atop Mr. Floyd even as Mr. Floyd cried out that he was in pain, even as Mr. Floyd exclaimed 27 times that he could not breathe, and even as Mr. Floyd said that Defendant’s actions were killing him.” Said Ellison.