Derek Chauvin’s attorneys are asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to dismiss the state charges that led to his murder conviction in George Floyd’s death, arguing that Gov. Tim Walz improperly assigned Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute the case and that prosecutors bypassed a required grand jury process.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Attorneys for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin have launched another attempt to overturn his state murder conviction in the death of George Floyd, this time arguing that fundamental defects in how the prosecution was authorized deprived the courts of jurisdiction over the charges.
The petition, filed Tuesday with the Minnesota Court of Appeals, contends that Gov. Tim Walz lacked lawful authority to assign Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute Chauvin and that prosecutors improperly proceeded without presenting the murder allegations to a grand jury.
Chauvin, now 50, was convicted in April 2021 of second-degree murder in Floyd’s May 2020 death while in Minneapolis police custody. Video of the encounter showed Chauvin restraining Floyd with his knee for more than nine minutes.
Chauvin is serving a 22-year state sentence in addition to a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, The Hill reported.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has previously rejected two petitions filed by Chauvin challenging his conviction.
His newest filing advances a different jurisdictional argument, asserting that the prosecution itself was improperly constructed before the case reached trial.
Chauvin’s attorneys described Walz’s decision to transfer prosecutorial authority to Ellison as “illegitimate” and argued that the move violated Chauvin’s constitutional right to due process.
The filing and claims surrounding it were also discussed in an X post.
Greg Joseph, one of Chauvin’s attorneys, argued that the original Hennepin County charges were escalated after Walz transferred the matter to Ellison.
“Because Hennepin County’s unlawful charges against Mr. Chauvin were not severe enough for the mob, Walz referred the case to Keith Ellison, who signed and e-filed a second unfounded complaint against Derek Chauvin that included the murder charge,” Joseph wrote in the petition, according to Alpha News.
Chauvin’s legal team additionally argues that the murder allegations should have been considered by a grand jury rather than brought through the process prosecutors used.
The absence of a grand jury, the attorneys contended, “allowed prosecutors to substitute their judgment for that of the grand jury in order to force Mr. Chauvin to face charges that were unsupported by probable cause,” according to MPR News.
The defense argues those alleged defects were serious enough to invalidate the proceedings entirely.
“As a result of these several due process violations, including the failure to present the matter to a grand jury for a probable cause determination or even to convene one, both this Court and the District Court lack jurisdiction over the charges in the Amended Complaint on which he is currently incarcerated, and it must be dismissed immediately,” Chauvin’s legal team wrote, according to The Hill.
The filing revisits one of the most consequential criminal cases arising from the unrest and national debate that followed Floyd’s death.
During the May 2020 encounter, officers attempted to place Floyd in a police vehicle, and footage introduced in the case showed him appearing distressed and repeatedly resisting efforts to remain inside the squad car. An officer could be heard instructing Floyd several times to sit in the vehicle.
Video from the encounter, which has also circulated on X, showed Floyd saying he could not breathe before officers restrained him on the ground.
An autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd’s system. The presence and potential role of those substances became part of the arguments surrounding his death, although the jury ultimately convicted Chauvin of second-degree murder.
Billionaire Elon Musk publicly backed Chauvin’s effort Wednesday, arguing that the former officer should be released.
“Derek Chauvin was unjustly convicted of murder, therefore he should be freed. The facts show that he was not the cause of death, nor did he at any time intend for a death to occur,” Musk wrote, according to a report on his remarks.
“Whatever else he may be, he is not a murderer. That is the truth,” Musk asserted.
His comments were also circulated in an X post.
Chauvin’s latest petition does not itself erase the jury verdict or his sentence. His attorneys are asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to conclude that the alleged defects involving Walz’s referral to Ellison and the absence of a grand jury were jurisdictional violations serious enough to require dismissal of the amended complaint on which his state imprisonment is based.
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