display
Following the guilty verdict against white ex-police officer Derek Chauvin for killing African American George Floyd, the defense has requested that the trial be reopened. As justification, attorney Eric Nelson cited legal errors and misconduct by the court and prosecutor. Because of the sum of the errors, the trial against Chauvin was not fair and thus deprived him of his constitutionally guaranteed rights, wrote Nelson in the motion dated Tuesday.
The defense failed several times during the trial with the responsible judge Peter Cahill, with requests for an immediate end to the proceedings due to alleged legal errors.
As a justification for the latest request, Chauvin's lawyer cited, among other things, that the judge had blocked a transfer of the process to another location.
In addition, Cahill failed to order a complete isolation of the jury from the outside world for the entire duration of the process, it said.
Nelson also accused the prosecutor of procedural errors.
The jury found Chauvin guilty of second degree murder, among other things, at the end of April.
They have been imprisoned for up to 40 years in the US state of Minnesota.
So far, the sentence is scheduled to be pronounced at the Minneapolis court on June 16.
display
Floyd's death on May 25, 2020 during a police operation in Minneapolis had sparked demonstrations against racism and police violence in the United States. Videos document how the police pushed the unarmed man to the ground. Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd's neck for a good nine minutes while Floyd pleaded to let him breathe. According to the autopsy, Floyd passed out and died.