The Derek Chauvin Trial Explained
Article Published in The Zesty Press, Edition 2 on April 15, 2021
Derek Chauvin, age 45 of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is currently being charged with the murder of 46 year old George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. Chauvin, a 19 year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, has already had 18 complaints against him, and in his spare time worked as a security guard for the El Nuevo Rodeo Club. George Floyd was also a security guard for that particular club. Kellie Chauvin, the wife of Derek Chauvin, filed for divorce the day after her husband was arrested.
Fourteen people were chosen to be on the jury, twelve normal jurors and two alternates. The alternates watch the trial with the rest of the jury and serve as backups in case someone can’t make it to the trial. Including the alternates the jury is made up of eight white jurors, four black jurors, and two mixed-race jurors. After the Floyd family won a 27 million dollar settlement with the city of Minneapolis, two jurors were dismissed when they admitted that they didn’t think they would be able to judge the trial in an unbiased manner because of the settlement.
The charges against Chauvin are the following: third degree-murder, second-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The charge with the largest penalty, second-degree murder, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. Normally it is defined as murder that is caused by obvious lack of concern for another person’s life. The third-degree murder charge, which has a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, was dismissed by judge Peter Cahill. He said that the circumstances surrounding the death of George Floyd did not warrant those charges. However, he later reinstated the charges after a higher court ordered him to reconsider his earlier decision. Minnesota law requires proof that the person accused of the crime acted, “eminently dangerous to others,” the use of the word “others'' means that it must apply to more than one person. The lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter has a maximum sentence of ten years, is when someone consciously creates an unreasonable risk of death or great bodily harm to another individual.
The prosecution is trying to prove that George Floyd died because Derek Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes. The central piece of evidence to that theory is the video that a bystander took of the incident. Many people who witnessed the crime, including a nine-year old girl, have been called to the witness stand already. Many doctors including the Hennepin County medical examiner and the ER doctor who treated George Floyd have also taken the stand to testify that George Floyd died because of asphyxiation. Asphyxiation is the state or process of being deprived of oxygen, which can result in unconsciousness or death (suffocation). The other main theory for the prosecution is that Derek Chauvin used unnecessary force in the arrest of George Floyd. Many police officers with the Minneapolis Police Department including Chief Medaria Arradondo have taken to the witness stand to testify that Chauvin’s way of handling the situation was against police policy and that George Floyd did not pose any risk to the four officers on the scene while being handcuffed on the ground.
On the other hand, the defense is trying to prove that Derek Chauvin did not kill George Floyd and that Floyd died because of a drug overdose. The defense is doing this even though the Hennepin County medical examiner testified that George Floyd died because his heart and lungs failed while Derek Chauvin’s knee was on George Floyd’s neck. The defense has not yet presented their evidence because they have to wait for the state to finish presenting their case. However, the defense attorney, Eric Nelson, has tried to give the jury the idea that the crowd surrounding Chauvin, Floyd, and the other officers, were harassing the police in cross-examination of the witnesses. The defense is trying to advance the theory that Chauvin couldn’t help resuscitate George Floyd because he was distracted by the crowd.
At the time of writing, the jury is expected to deliver their verdict in around two weeks. If Derek Chauvin is convicted of all charges, his maximum sentence will be 75 years in prison. If Chauvin is not convicted, he will not get back the one million dollars he spent to bail himself out of prison in mid-2020. There will also likely be more protests and possibly riots like what we saw last summer and during the Rodney King riots in 1992.
Works Cited
Andrew, Scottie. "Derek Chauvin: What we know about the former officer charged in George Floyd's death." CNN, 1 June 2020.
Arango, Tim. "What is Derek Chauvin charged with?" The New York Times, 8 March 2021. Accessed 11 April 2021.
"The Case Against George Floyd." Interview conducted by Michael Barbaro. The New York Times, 8 April 2021. Accessed 11 April 2021.
Chappell, Bill. "Chauvin Trial: Judge Reinstates 3rd-Degree Murder Charge Over George Floyd's Killing." NPR, 11 March 2021. Accessed 11 April 2021.
Dewan, Shaila. "Chauvin Jury: A Range of Views on Race and Policing." The New York Times, 1 April 2021. Accessed 10 April 2021.
Karnowski, Steve. "2 jurors dropped from Chauvin trial after $27M settlement." Associated Press, 17 March 2021. Accessed 10 April 2021.
White, Jaquetta. "Here's what to know about the Derek Chauvin trial." NBC News, 26 March 2021, Accessed 11 April 2021.
