The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis set of a chain of riots and conflagrations which all but defined violent tribalism in America in this decade. Derek Chauvin, the police officer who held Floyd down in the street as he died, was convicted of murder and is presently serving a lengthy sentence. His appeal requesting a new trial went to the court of last resort, the Supreme Court of the United States. Chauvin’s appellate counsel offers new evidence, discussed here:

or watch video here.

Give it a twelve minute watch (or stick around at the end for the incongruous one-minute CBD commercial if you wish; after watching you may feel a need for something to calm you.)

SCOTUS chose not to review.

And, last week, Derek Chauvin got shanked in prison and suffered live-threatening stab wounds.

Comments are welcome here as always, but please view the video first and stay on topic…

32 COMMENTS

  1. Chauvin was convicted because he happened to be present while George Floyd killed himself with a triple-overdose of fentanyl.

  2. “This is the kind of case that ends careers.”

    Which kills any possibility of objectivity and severely damages adherence to facts and truth.

    While I don’t envy the position the AG and DA were in — either they take the case to trial despite solid exculpatory evidence and have their professional integrity questioned forever, or they DON’T take the case to trial and risk riots, destruction, and the end of their careers — I nevertheless believe they chose wrong. There was no way Derek Chauvin was going to get a fair trial; the media saturation of The Narrative[TM], the denial of the change of venue, the ignoring of the M.E.’s evidence and findings, the threat of widespread mob violence, etc., all tainted the process and biased all proceedings against him. “Railroaded” is putting it lightly.

    I don’t believe Chauvin is blameless in this, but 2nd degree murder requires intent, and I didn’t see any intent to do anything other than restrain a much larger man to effect a lawful arrest. (I don’t know if it would have been possible, but IMHO rather than kneel over Floyd, he’d have been better off cuffing Floyd’s hands behind his back, cuffing his ankles, and then sitting him up leaning against the patrol car. I believe Floyd still would have died of a fentanyl overdose, but there wouldn’t have been a white cop sitting on him while it happened.)

    IANAL, but perhaps one could answer this: If the AG and DA had access to this M.E.’s report (it sounds like they did) that could prove exculpatory to the defendant, and chose to not share it with defense counsel, wouldn’t that be automatic grounds for a new trial at the very least?

  3. IF the new evidence IS true, then:

    The idea that the ME, jury, et al. were apparently unwilling to do the right thing- knowing that it would (or at least COULD) acquit Chauvin- because of fears about how they themselves might be affected later on, is absolutely disgusting.

    Nothing the ME or jury *might* have had happen to them after the trial can compare to getting falsely convicted and sentenced for a crime you didn’t commit.

    Cowards, each of them. Cue the “Founding Fathers rolling in their graves” meme.

  4. Just goes to show how lopsided the judicial system is. I’ll ask why he’s not in any sort of protective custody

  5. I thought that the jury was fully aware that the knee on the neck did not kill Floyd. According to a juror interview I saw, they were in a quandary, and went with Chauvin’s failure to render aid to Floyd. And that was something the entire jury could agree on.

    • A) His knee was mostly on Floyd’s back.
      B) I have seen people come out of anesthesia in quite a flurry.
      C) It was noted in the trial that an ambulance had been called, but they parked a distance away as the EMTs were afraid of the crowd.

      • I myself have come out of anesthesia in a flurry. I was told that I (ineffectively) assaulted the nurse though I have no memory of that.

      • @Rick: Your point ‘C’ is something I feel hasn’t been discussed enough. EMTs were called, but they’re not required — and are usually forbidden by policy and common sense — to enter an unsafe or dangerous scene to render aid. Situations get exponentially worse when the people called to help become victims or casualties themselves.

        Given that, the increasingly-unruly mob was at the very least a proximate cause of Floyd’s death by delaying medical aid and treatment. In a lot of places, interfering with or preventing emergency services is a crime, and every person in the crowd contributed to it to the same or greater extent Chauvin did.

        So why aren’t they all under arrest and being tried for 2nd degree murder alongside him?

    • @Danno: Even if the jury went with “failure to render aid”, that does NOT equate to 2nd degree murder, for multiple reasons: Police officers are not EMTs and are not required to render medical aid; the crowd pressing in, clearly angry and shouting threats, created an unsafe situation in which to try and render aid (which is why the real EMTs in the ambulance were staying back); and Floyd was still considered dangerous enough — even on the ground — that he needed to be restrained.

      It sounds more and more like the jury felt they had to convict him of something or face the wrath of the mob. I’m just not sure if it ended up being 2nd degree murder because the jury went with the harshest possible sentence to appease the mob, or because it was the lesser option on the table (I suspect the former).

      • Thanks for the clarification. I hope that somehow he is granted an appeal, or some judicial relief. Sad times we are in.

  6. In hindsight, it appears that Officer Chauvin’s fate was sealed as soon as the DA decided to charge him with murder. The Governor, Mayor and Attorney General decided that they would sacrifice him in order to curry favor with the mob. The jurors admitted that they feared repercussions if they returned a not guilty verdict. The medical examiner could not connect any of the officer’s actions to a cause of Floyd’s death. The Police Chief appears to have perjured himself in regards to the restraint technique that was used. And now Floyd, a career criminal and drug addict, has been elevated to some sort of saint by the same members of a community that he preyed upon. It is truly a sad state of affairs.

  7. Everybody dies at some particular point in time. George Floyd died during the time Derek Chauvin was holding him down, but not BECAUSE Chauvin was holding him down. Floyd’s body was under acute stress because (a) he was being arrested and experiencing an adrenalin dump, and (b) because, as he said, ‘I ate a lot of drugs,’ – i.e., a massive amount of Fentanyl. These stressors were enough to shut down the functions of a body that was already compromised by Floyd’s deplorable lifestyle.

    The state’s Medical Examiner said Chauvin didn’t kill George Floyd, and it seems pretty obvious what did kill him. Free Derek Chauvin.

    Having said that, I agree with the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case. This is not a Constitutional or national matter. It is a case of a disgraceful miscarriage of justice that should have been reversed by lower courts.

    • Having said that, I agree with the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case. This is not a Constitutional or national matter. It is a case of a disgraceful miscarriage of justice that should have been reversed by lower courts.

      I agree it’s not a Constitutional question that hasn’t already been thoroughly answered. SCOTUS doesn’t really need to weigh in with a formal opinion.

      However, could SCOTUS not tell the lower courts to take another look, instead of “no-replying” it? (IANAL, but I believe the acronym is “GVR”: Grant a review, Vacate the current decision, Remand back to lower courts. It basically says, “You did this wrong, now go back and do it right.”)

      Then again, this accusation against the DA — alleging sexual harassment and prosecutorial misconduct (which if true would seem to include withholding evidence from the defense) — came after SCOTUS declined to review Chauvin’s appeal, so at the time SCOTUS declined it, it was the right call.

  9. Given that the coroner’s testimony in court was essentially what appears in the new deposition, I don’t see how any appellate court is going to entertain it. The appellate court may agree that the jury got the facts wrong, but that’s not a reason in our system for them to take the appeal.

    And Mas says SCOTUS didn’t grant the appeal.

    A better argument could be that the DA didn’t reveal the coroner’s remarks to the defense. But the defense got the information from the coroner’s testimony on the witness stand. So that’s not good enough.

    The best argument is that the change of venue was denied. But SCOTUS wouldn’t be much interested in trying to adopt a rule on when a change of venue should be granted. Too much of a judgment call and the basic principle is that the case is to be tried where the alleged crime occurred.

    It certainly looks like a miscarriage of justice. But I don’t see a correction that accords with the well-established procedures of our system.

  10. In that Chauvin pled guilty to Federal civil rights charges and was sentenced to 20 years on those charges (more precisely, 245 months), I don’t know if disputing the autopsy findings matters one bit.

  11. This video says it all. If you are interested in the Chauvin case, I urge you to budget the time (about 1 3/4 hours) to watch this video. It shows the parts that do not fit into the Left-wing propaganda narrative that was spoon-fed to most Americans (and the entire World, for that matter). It is certain applicable to this topic.

    However, I warn you, only watch it if you want the truth. If you want sweet lies, watch CNN or MS-NBC instead.

    https://rumble.com/v3vyvzv-the-fall-of-minneapolis.html

  12. I doubt the ME’s report will make a ripple in the news cycle. MSM has been corrupted by activists over the years and, unless the general public refuses to support it, will get much worse before it gets better. Conservatives are, by nature, conservative.

    If we want to return as the most magnificent country on earth, we need to change who is in power either through economics or political will.

    • The new story is about sexual harassment and prosecutorial misconduct, a small piece of which is the M.E.’s report on George Floyd.

      And IIRC the DA in question is a Democrat, so the media won’t just not play the story; they’ll actively suppress it. The whole story, not just the M.E.’s report.

  13. As a physician who read both autopsies on George Floyd and watched the videos repeatedly, I think it was most likely that George Floyd died from cessation of breathing brought on by ingesting a supra-lethal dose of narcotics (in an attempt to hide the drugs from the police). The drugs stopped his breathing, not the knee in the middle of his upper back near the neck area.

    Sgt. Chauvin’s tactical error was in being so concerned (and not unreasonably so) about getting a brick in the back of his head that he failed to recognize the need to start CPR on George Floyd. This was an unfortunate but understandable consequence of the hostile environment created by George Floyd’s own physical resistance and the angry crowd. Certainly, any contribution to Floyd’s death by Derek Chauvin fell far short of the amount needed for proof “beyond a reasonable doubt”.

    It is likely the jury and many witnesses were cowed by personal fear or motivated by racial or personal animus–otherwise it is difficult to envision how a reasonable jury could find Chauvin guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That Chauvin caused Floyd’s death wasn’t probable–indeed, the hypothesis that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death was highly improbable, unless you believe that failing to recognize and treat drug-induced hypopnea/apnea is grounds for a murder conviction.

    Simply put, this was a “legal” lynching. I was inclined to say that Chauvin at least has it better than did Emmett Till did in 1954; but, we should wait to see if Chauvin survives getting shivved. Both were victims of misplaced, racially & politically charged, mob anger. Sadly, two wrongs don’t make a right.

    There is plenty of blame to go around: The judge who failed to render a directed verdict; the prosecutor’s team who allowed themselves to be the vehicle of a political prosecution and argued a distorted hypothesis of the case; the coroners, who bent their testimony to avoid contradicting the political narrative; the jury, one member at least of which is reasonably likely to have entered the case with prejudice and others who may have feared the likely riots that were predicted to ensue from an acquittal; the defense team, which failed to put the defendant on the stand to explain his actions (and they were explainable), and possibly Derek Chauvin himself, for lacking the capacity to articulate the reasonableness of his actions in the event. I suspect, but do not know, that his lawyers did not put Chauvin on the stand because they judged that he lacked sufficient self-control and was likely to become angry & defensive under hostile cross-examination. Also, his above-average history of excessive-force complaints would become admissible–unfortunately, the jury heard of this anyway via sources other-than-the-court.

    In one sense, Derek Chauvin became the scapegoat for all prior sins of racist police behavior. Sadly, it does not appear that his sacrifice on the altar of social justice has resulted in any forgiveness of those sins. Perhaps he will find some solace in knowing that his personal sacrifice likely saved the lives of others, including brother police officers, who would have perished in the riots and other acts of “retribution” that his acquittal would have prompted.

    Strive for justice; fight for justice; but, don’t be shocked that justice is not always forthcoming.

  15. He was a sacrificial lamb to save the rest of the city. That being said, he was a crappy officer and got away with it until this happened. His luck ran out…

    • I’ve also read and heard that Chauvin was a sub-par officer and kind of a jerk.

      But while that reduces or eliminates any sympathy for the guy, it doesn’t change the facts of the case.

  16. I’ve thought the George Floyd case was similar to the Malice Green death in 1992 in Detroit that our host wrote about in a January, 1999 Ayoob File.

    Years later, even 60 Minutes (who celebrated Chauvin’s conviction) had a segment concluding that the police didn’t kill Malice Green and that he had instead died from …. a drug overdose.

  17. I just finished watching “The Fall of Minneapolis.” It is well worth your time, but the documented failures and cowardice of the Governor, Mayor, Attorney General, etc… left me feeling physically ill. I pray that this is not a harbinger of things to come in this country.

  18. The Supreme Court would attract more controversy upon itself and opposition, not to elucidate a legal principle but to save one man from judicial malpractice. I don’t know whether taking on such a role would be sustainable for the Supreme Court.

    If the Supreme Court decides not to take this case (e.g. for this reason), I wonder what else could be done. Would publicity about the local court’s malpractice discourage other courts from pandering to political pressure like that?

  19. The new doc from Alpha News titled The Fall of Minneapolis was also quite engrossing, the presence of certain agency representatives at the autopsy, which took place 12 hours after death, was new info to me. I saw it free on YouTube, should be easy to find for anyone interested.

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