Minneapolis Preparing for Civil Unrest as Trial of Officer Charged in George Floyd Death Looms
Richard Moorhead
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The city of Minneapolis is preparing security measures in the advance of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd. Jury selection in the trial is slated to begin on March 8th, and it’s possible the trial could be over by the end of the month.
Fearing a repeat of the devastating riots that rocked the liberal city in the wake of Floyd’s death in the summer, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has confirmed that as many as 3,000 law enforcement officers will be deployed throughout the city during the proceedings. More than 700 buildings in Minneapolis were destroyed in the summer’s riots, with the mayor going on to request $55 million in bailout funds from the federal damages after refusing to quell the mass crime.
It’s expected that Chauvin’s attorneys will argue Floyd actually died as the result of a drug overdose. Documents from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office reveal that Floyd had ingested a fatal level of fentanyl when he died, and that if not for the altercation with Chauvin, coroners would’ve concluded he died of a drug overdose.
Reports had emerged suggesting that Chauvin earlier considered accepting a plea agreement that would’ve required him to spend ten years in prison. Chauvin’s attorneys sought to negotiate his incarceration in a federal prison, a provision that terminated the deal. AG Bill Barr, at the time in charge of oversight of federal prisons, was reluctant to sign off on the ten-year sentence.
Chauvin’s attorneys will also argue that the kneeling restraint Chauvin used to seeming fatal effect on Floyd was displayed in trainings utilized by the Minneapolis Police Department.
Second-degree murder ordinarily entails a prison sentence of 12.5 years in Minnesota. It’s possible that Chauvin’s ultimate sentence could spark off riots, just as it’s possible that his trial could end in his own acquittal. Riots that follow either outcome could ultimately put the immensely destructive marauding that occurred in summer 2020 to shame, proving that Joe Biden in unable to stop the swelling phenomenon of BLM/ANTIFA street terror merely by being a “nice guy.”
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