Derek Chauvin’s Attorney Files Motion Requesting New Trial, Says Jury Committed Misconduct and Felt “Race-Based” Pressure to Convict
Evan James
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The attorney representing Derek Chauvin has requested a new trial for his client, citing several grounds including jury misconduct and outside intimidation.
Attorney Eric Nelson filed a motion Tuesday. Chauvin was convicted of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter last month in the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Click here to read the four-page motion. Nelson cites jury misconduct, enormous pretrial publicity, outside intimidation, “race-based pressure during the proceedings,” and even failure to properly sequester the jury as sufficient grounds for a new trial.
“The cumulative effect of the multiple errors in these proceedings deprived Mr. Chauvin of a fair trial, in violation of his constitutional rights,” Nelson writes.
Nelson also accuses the state of Minnesota of committing “pervasive, prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct […] including but not limited to: disparaging the defense; improper vouching; and failing to adequately prepare its witnesses.”
Big League Politics has recently written two pieces about members of the Chauvin jury. Juror 96 Lisa Christensen admitted to the local news that she had “mixed feelings” about serving in the first place and feared the wrath of the mob if she and her peers voted to exonerate Chauvin.
In addition, Juror 52 Brandon Mitchell claimed no prior knowledge of the civil case that saw George Floyd’s family receive $27 million from the city of Minneapolis. Then on April 27 he appeared on a radio show to talk about how jury duty represents an opportunity to “spark some change,” leaving many to wonder if he had been feigning ignorance to influence the outcome.
“I mean it’s important if we wanna see some change, we wanna see some things going different, we gotta into these avenues, get into these rooms to try to spark some change,” Mitchell said during an appearance on Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell. “Jury duty is one of those things. Jury duty. Voting. All of those things we gotta do.”
Nelson’s filing of the motion was expected, but so is the unwillingness of the state to consider a new trial for the former Minneapolis police officer. Chauvin was screwed from the very beginning.
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