Derek Chauvin Requests New Trial for Murder of George Floyd

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has filed an appeal requesting a new trial for the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Chauvin reportedly submitted the filing for an appeal last month in Hennepin County District Court, claiming that his conviction should be vacated due to what his attorneys argued as alleged flawed medical testimony and an alleged misrepresentation of police training. He also claimed that faulty jury instructions should warrant a new trial.

In the filing, Chauvin claimed that the four physicians who reviewed the medical examiner’s report on Floyd’s death relied too much on video evidence of officers restraining Floyd, during which Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes while he cried out he can’t breathe and onlookers protested his treatment.

“This led to many errors throughout, as improperly qualified experts opined on events in the various videos in this case,” the filing reads. “This served to deprive Chauvin of his right to due process.”

Chauvin also says in the filing that he has retained physicians at the Forensic Panel who will testify that physicians used in his trial used methodology that “is not generally accepted in the scientific community,” per Fox News.

“Chauvin also disputed testimony from three Minneapolis police supervisors, who swore the tactic of placing a knee on a suspect’s neck as a restraint was inconsistent with city police policy,” the outlet added. “The filing states that 34 current and former Minneapolis police officers have made sworn statements saying the knee tactic was part of their training and consistent with the department’s policy.”

Chauvin was denied an appeal for a new trial in 2023. Since his conviction, he has been housed at a low-security prison in Big Spring, Texas, serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating George Floyd’s civil rights and a 22 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

During closing arguments, prosecutors argued that Chauvin failed to honor his badge during the nine minutes he kneeled on Floyd’s neck, saying he chose “pride over policing.”