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Derek Chauvin is still apparently enjoying his white privilege from behind bars despite serving time for murdering George Floyd. He’s just not enjoying his time behind bars.
The former Minneapolis police officer shown on video nonchalantly using his knee to apply deadly pressure to the neck of a handcuffed Floyd is seeking to have his conviction thrown out on the audaciously alleged basis that he was denied a fair trial.
Chauvin’s lawyers were in court on Wednesday arguing what appeared to be a flimsy, if not completely desperate case, considering the overwhelming amount of evidence that helped convict the disgraced former police officer.
The Associated Press reported:
Chauvin’s attorney, William Mohrman, told a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals that the trial judge should have moved the case out of Minneapolis because of extensive pretrial publicity and unprecedented security precautions due to protest fears.
“The primary issue on this appeal is whether a criminal defendant can get a fair trial consistent with constitutional requirements in a courthouse surrounded by concrete block, barbed wire, two armored personnel carriers, and a squad of National Guard troops, all of which or whom are there for one purpose: in the event that the jury acquits the defendant,” Mohrman said.
But Neal Katyal, a special attorney for the state, said Chauvin got “one of the most transparent and thorough trials in our nation’s history. … Chauvin’s many arguments before this court do not come close to justifying reversal.”
The Minnesota Court of Appeals is expected to make a ruling in 90 days. However, even if it did happen to rule in Chauvin’s favor, his federal sentence for committing a hate crime in the murder of Floyd will keep still him in prison.
Wednesday wasn’t the first time Chauvin appealed his conviction.
In April of last year, Chauvin’s attorneys argued that his trial was “structurally defective” due to reasons that include “extensive pretrial publicity and protests outside the courthouse, as well as the city’s announcement during jury selection that it would pay a $27 million settlement to Floyd’s family.”
The 82-page filing also included allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Chauvin’s attorneys claimed state attorneys “failed to properly disclose discovery information and adequately prepare prosecution witnesses.”
Conspicuously, in both appeals, there was no mention of Chauvin ignoring Floyd repeating that he couldn’t breathe as the ex-cop applied an illegal chokehold that proved deadly.
With that said, it would be hasty to rule out the possibility that Chauvin could emerge victorious in this latest appeal. After all, he was granted a transfer from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison to a medium-security federal prison in Arizona because, he said, “I was in fear for my life.”
This is why the “blue lives matter” movement is and has always been a sham. Cops are already treated like a protected class—even when they’re no longer cops and are just as much a violent criminal as any other violent criminal.
This is America.
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HBCU Students Blamed As Cops Cleared For Violent Arrests At George Floyd Protest
The post Derek Chauvin, Who Was Judge, Jury And Executioner Of George Floyd, Claims He Didn’t Get A Fair Trial appeared first on NewsOne.
