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CrimsonPhantom Offline
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Derek Chauvin Trial (BREAKING: Sentenced)


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Quote:Welcome, everyone, to the official launch of my coverage of the second-degree murder trial of Derek Chauvin, criminally charged in the March May 25, 2020 in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN.


Tomorrow, Monday, March 8, 2021, begins the jury selection for Chauvin’s trial, with opening arguments likely within the following week or two, and presumably a verdict by sometime in early or mid-April. It’s our intent to provide daily coverage of the trial proceedings, as much in real-time as circumstances allow, and based on observation of trial proceedings as they occur.

Throughout the trial I’ll be providing in-depth legal analysis in the form of blog posts here at Legal Insurrection, as informed by my own modest expertise in use-of-force law and based solely on the relevant evidence and law in this case, with links to the actual sources of evidence and law, as appropriate. Many of you may have followed my coverage of the George Zimmerman trial back in 2013, and if so you can expect the same coverage insight and expertise in the trial of Chauvin, as well.

I also plan to use the social media platform Parler to provide live coverage of the Chauvin trial as it proceeds. For those interested in following that content, I’m on Parler using the handle @LawofSelfDefense.

The Narrative of Guilt
In summary, the narrative of guilt for Chauvin is that while a Minneapolis police officer lawfully arresting Floyd, Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck with sufficient force and for a sufficient duration to cause Floyd’s death, knowing he was doing so in front of a crowd of people who were recording his conduct for all the world to see, and in a manner consistent with the criminal act of second-degree murder. Naturally, the prosecution is obliged to prove the elements of this crime (or any lesser-included offense) beyond a reasonable doubt in order to obtain a conviction.

The Narrative of Innocence
In contrast, the narrative of innocence for Chauvin is likely to be something to the effect that Chauvin’s use of force—the knee on Floyd’s neck—was a lawful and appropriate use of force under the circumstances of making a lawful arrest of a non-compliant Floyd, who presented the appearance of experiencing excited delirium, that this technique was approved and trained by his department as a non-deadly force restraint technique under these circumstances, and that the technique was not applied in a manner that could be reasonably expected to cause death or serious injury to Floyd consistent with the lack of any indication of any trauma whatever to Floyd’s neck discovered upon medical examination.

Further, the narrative of innocence is likely to argue that the actual cause of Floyd’s death was not Chauvin’s knee at all, but rather the three-fold fatal dose of fentanyl in Floyd’s system—presumably because the drug was ingested by Floyd upon approach by the officers making his arrest in order to conceal the drug from discovery by the officers.

This narrative would hold that the ingestion by Floyd of the fatal dose of fentanyl would have inevitably resulted in his death regardless of any conduct by the officers involved. This is particularly so given Floyd’s medical history of existing respiratory and cardiovascular disease, his COVID-positive status, and his poorly made decision to physically and forcibly resist lawful arrest for some 10 minutes.

It is also known that Floyd had a history of ingesting illicit drugs to prevent their discovery when approached by officers, and indeed he had previously been hospitalized as a consequence of precisely such conduct. It is unclear at this point, however, if that history will be admitted as evidence at Chauvin’s trial.

Another Racially Energized & Propagandized Case
As has become routine in such cases, Floyd’s in-custody death and Chauvin’s trial have been racially energized by the usual suspects, including Attorney Benjamin Crump specifically and the social and mainstream media generally. Their narrative is that this is another example in a long list of instances of white police officers murdering black suspects, a continuation of what they argue is well-established institutional racism of police departments in particular and America as a whole. Indeed, the established social narrative puts Chauvin’s guilt as the murderer of Floyd as beyond question.

Remember the Zimmerman Trial & Be Informed
Of course, George Zimmerman faced a similar established social narrative when his trial began on second-degree murder charges for the killing of Trayvon Martin, and after fourteen months of investigation and trial he was acquitted of all charges by a racially diverse jury in a matter of hours.

Much of the world was shocked by the acquittal of Zimmerman, because they’d been propagandized by the social media narrative to be utterly convinced of his guilt. Those of you who followed my day-by-day analysis of that trial, however, fully understood that not only was the prosecution’s case against Zimmerman weak, there was literally no evidence in the case inconsistent with Zimmerman’s narrative of lawful self-defense. For the well-informed, Zimmerman’s acquittal came as a relief, but not a surprise.

Will we see the same outcome in the trial of Chauvin? Follow my daily coverage and analysis of the trial right here at Legal Insurrection to find out!

Prior Analysis & Background
I began analysis of this case soon after Floyd’s death over at my own Law of Self Defense web site, and anyone interested in reading that content, which includes far more details than I can reasonably include in this initial “launch” post, can gain free access by clicking the relevant links below:

After Action Analysis (George Floyd): May 27, 2020

NEWS: Officer Chauvin Charged with Murder of George Floyd (May 29, 2020)

Did Baden Autopsy Find Clinical Evidence Floyd Killed by Asphyxia? No (June 1, 2020)

News/Q&A (George Floyd): June 4, 2020

George Floyd: Criminal Complaints & Medical Examiner Report (June 5, 2020)

Media Slowly Sensing Perhaps Floyd’s Death Maybe Not A Murder? (March 3, 2021)

OK, folks, buckle up, gird your loins, and all that good stuff, and get ready for our coverage of the second-degree murder trial of Derek Chauvin, starting substantively tomorrow with the beginning of jury selection.

–Andrew

Attorney Andrew F. Branca
Law of Self Defense LLC

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(This post was last modified: 06-26-2021 10:03 AM by CrimsonPhantom.)
03-08-2021 12:14 PM
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49RFootballNow Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
The guy's handle is Simp Master Supreme..........good Lord you can't make this **** up.
03-08-2021 12:29 PM
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Eldonabe Offline
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Post: #3
RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
If Chauvin walks - right or wrong - there are going to be A LOT of casualties. I keep thinking about the aftermath of Rodney King verdict and it will be like that on mega-steroids. And in most-every big city in the country....
03-08-2021 12:35 PM
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450bench Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 12:35 PM)Eldonabe Wrote:  If Chauvin walks - right or wrong - there are going to be A LOT of casualties. I keep thinking about the aftermath of Rodney King verdict and it will be like that on mega-steroids. And in most-every big city in the country....

Yep absolutely. I think it will trigger an actual civil war. For the record, I think he has to be convicted because what he did was truly heinous.
03-08-2021 12:47 PM
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Eldonabe Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 12:47 PM)450bench Wrote:  
(03-08-2021 12:35 PM)Eldonabe Wrote:  If Chauvin walks - right or wrong - there are going to be A LOT of casualties. I keep thinking about the aftermath of Rodney King verdict and it will be like that on mega-steroids. And in most-every big city in the country....

Yep absolutely. I think it will trigger an actual civil war. For the record, I think he has to be convicted because what he did was truly heinous.

It is east to take a side based on one video, making it hard to argue your position.

I want to hear the whole story first.

I did the same with Kavanaugh and will to the same with Cuomo, even that Tara lady who was alleging Joe's creepy behavior.


Tara's story is really interesting to me. What ever happened? Did she not really have the goods? She sounded credible at the very least, but she never pushed it in the end? Did someone get to her to keep her quiet via threat or money, or was she embellishing and just could not deliver enough? She never really had her day in court so I still don't have an opinion as to real or fake?
03-08-2021 01:01 PM
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Eldonabe Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 12:47 PM)450bench Wrote:  
(03-08-2021 12:35 PM)Eldonabe Wrote:  If Chauvin walks - right or wrong - there are going to be A LOT of casualties. I keep thinking about the aftermath of Rodney King verdict and it will be like that on mega-steroids. And in most-every big city in the country....

Yep absolutely. I think it will trigger an actual civil war. For the record, I think he has to be convicted because what he did was truly heinous.

I mentioned this in another thread as well, if he is convicted there will be riots as well. It will embolden those that accused police of systemic racism and they will lash out in an "I told you so" outrage.

This is going to be a lose/lose verdict in too many ways.
03-08-2021 01:03 PM
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Post: #7
RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
He'll never get convicted of 2nd degree murder based on the facts. It just isn't happening.
03-08-2021 01:06 PM
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No2rdame Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
He'll never get a fair trial because it reeks so much of partisan politics and social justice. I think that the jury will know this and even if there is insufficient evidence I can imagine some, if not all, will go with a guilty verdict due to repercussions. As already pointed out, there will be riots regardless but if any jurist goes with not guilty they essentially put their life and their families' lives in jeopardy from the lunatics who will do everything they can to doxx and threaten them.

On another note, isn't it funny how Twatter blocks Trump but lets these morons post and incite violence because "they're about free speech?"
03-08-2021 01:32 PM
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banker Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
Well, if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was afraid to take a case because it could lead to rioting, can you expect average citizens on a jury to act with more bravery? My guess is the leftist loons would dox those jurors and their lives would be in danger.

Welcome to mob rule.
03-08-2021 01:48 PM
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banker Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
And for the record, given the amount of drugs in his system, there is absolutely no way that you can rule out that the drugs killed him. Therefore you can not get past reasonable doubt that the cop killed him.
03-08-2021 01:51 PM
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No2rdame Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 01:48 PM)banker Wrote:  Well, if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was afraid to take a case because it could lead to rioting, can you expect average citizens on a jury to act with more bravery? My guess is the leftist loons would dox those jurors and their lives would be in danger.

Welcome to mob rule.

This is precisely my fear. I'm not defending Chauvin by any means, but like everyone else he deserves impartiality and fairness, something he won't get with the Anqueefa mob standing outside the gates with their panties on their faces and their molotov cocktails ready to burn everything down.

Not to mention, you'll have Hollyweird and the own federal government either encouraging it or turning a blind eye to any violence because it fits a certain narrative.
03-08-2021 01:51 PM
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Bronco'14 Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
Either way, I'm avoiding the news like hell on Verdict Day

& no, I don't expect any riots if he's guilty.
(This post was last modified: 03-08-2021 03:20 PM by Bronco'14.)
03-08-2021 03:20 PM
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No2rdame Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 03:20 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  Either way, I'm avoiding the news like hell on Verdict Day

& no, I don't expect any riots if he's guilty.

The animals that riot will find a reason to riot regardless. Luckily, since I don't have to commute to the hood currently the verdict response will have no bearing on my life. My neighborhood and community won't see any repercussions from it.
03-08-2021 03:22 PM
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CrimsonPhantom Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
Quote:Chalk up another death in another BLM autonomous zone.

Minneapolis has an “autonomous zone” which grew up in the blocks surrounding the area where George Floyd died. The area, now referred to as George Floyd Square was made into a memorial.

On Saturday, a man was shot in the zone, near the square, and he later died at the hospital. There was a report of a second victim but he was not found.

Here’s alleged video of the aftermath of the shooting. It starts with people ducking down behind a car, presumably after the shots. Warning graphic.



But when the police responded to the site, they were initially met with resistance by the BLM folks guarding the autonomous zone, according to the Star Tribune. Police believe based upon their initial investigation that the victim and the shooter knew each other and had an argument. The victim was allegedly black.

According to the Washington Examiner, barriers and gates were blocking off the area and no white people were allowed to enter the area to allow for “healing” of the community, one of the activists said.

That’s upsetting to the neighbors who actually live there, like Teresa Stiller, who lives a block away.

“We live here. We want to live here. This isn’t their neighborhood. I’ve had bullets whiz by me right here,” Stiller said on the sidewalk outside her home Sunday afternoon. “I have post-traumatic stress disorder now. Whenever I hear a loud noise, I either start crying, or I duck.”

Her neighbor Steve who says he’s a liberal has also had enough.

“We’re sick of it. I’ve got guys at the store telling me the Bloods [gang] were helping protect the place because others wanted to come and burn the place down altogether,” Steve, a self-identified liberal, said. “Check the [city council] out, with the rookie Mayor [Jacob Frey] and all these people who are comfortable [with what’s going on].”

Both primarily blame the BLM for the rise in lawlessness and the intimidation of the people who actually live there. Because of the moves to curtail the police by government officials, homicides and other crimes have surged and Teresa and Steve’s neighbors are selling and fleeing the area.

Minneapolis police say that the ‘autonomous zone’ delayed cops and EMS response to a brutal assault back in September, too, as I reported at that time.

Here’s what it looked like then.





I asked then if the local officials were going to wait to do something about it until there was a tragedy as there had been in Seattle. Apparently, the answer was yes.

But unfortunately, it may be about to get worse. Because Derek Chauvin’s trial begins today. Chauvin is the cop charged in the death of Floyd and given the medical examiner’s findings in the case, there’s a lot of question as to whether he will be convicted. If he isn’t, the area may explode once again.

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03-08-2021 04:26 PM
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
I really don't care bout "big cities". If the Left wants to fight their war on their own turf I am all for it. I may even have a load of bricks delivered to a few places to help them out. Nobody will do anything to me.
03-08-2021 04:43 PM
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450bench Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
These people have a mural of George Floyd painted on a wall. Nothing against the man but WOW.

Imagine being there for 5 minutes? It’s an alternative universe.
03-08-2021 05:06 PM
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
[Image: 80388f2d-e8d6-424d-9b71-437a35a25969-jpeg.465498]
03-08-2021 05:33 PM
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CrimsonPhantom Offline
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RE: Derek Chauvin Trial


Quote:Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the Minnesota murder trial of Derek Chauvin, over the in-custody death of George Floyd. I am Attorney Andrew Branca for Law of Self Defense, providing guest commentary and analysis of this trial for Legal Insurrection.


As a reminder, I am “LIVE Parlering” the trial in real-time over at my Parler account, which you can find using my Parler handle: @LawofSelfDefense.

Before we dive into the substance of this morning’s proceedings, a brief list of characters in play during the trial, so we can keep track, especially as many of the streaming sources for the trial proceedings do not appear to be using name labels on screen:

The trial is presided over by Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill. The lead prosecutor is Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank, assisted by Special Attorney for the State Neal Katyal. The lead defense counsel is Attorney Eric Nelson, assisted by co-counsel Attorney Amy Vos. The defendant is, of course, Derek Chauvin—there is no word yet as to whether Chauvin is expected to testify in his own defense.

Today was planned to be the first day of jury selection for this trial, but instead the day turned into a non-starter. As I write this the trial court is adjourned until 1:30pm CT, at which point a determination will be made as to what, if anything, the trial court will be free to do in advancing this trial forward.

Until that determination is made, the trial, and jury selection, are effectively paused. Indeed, the jury pool has been sent home for today, so there will definitely be no jury selection occurring prior to tomorrow, if then.

The key cause of the hold-up is the uncertainty around the third-degree murder charge which the state wants to bring against Derek Chauvin, in addition to the second-degree murder and manslaughter charges on which he is currently charged.

Minnesota labels its various criminal offenses in a rather untraditional manner, so it’s worth looking at the actual criminal charges themselves.

With respect to the second-degree murder charge the relevant statute is § 609.19. Murder in the second degree, which is sub-divided into two major sections. Subdivision 1 covers intentional murders. Chauvin is not charged under this section.

Indeed, there is no claim whatever being made that Chauvin intentionally killed Floyd. I find it remarkable that the public narrative around Floyd’s death is one of purported racist police murder of a black suspect, but not even the prosecutors aggressively pursuing this case are willing to make the legal argument that Chauvin intended to kill Floyd.

Subdivision 2 of § 609.19 covers unintentional murders. It, too, consists of two parts. Chauvin is charged under the first of these; the second part applies to circumstances involving restraining orders and is not relevant to this case.

So, the relevant second-degree murder language relevant to Chauvin is found in § 609.19(2)(1), and it reads:

Subdivision 2. Whoever does either of the following is guilty of unintentional murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years: (1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting;

So, the second-degree murder charge against Chauvin is premised on an underlying felony, which the state argues is the purported commission of third-degree assault by Chauvin upon Floyd.

Which naturally raises the question of what constitutes third-degree assault under Minnesota law, which we find at § 609.223 Assault in the third degree. This statute consists of three parts, only the first of which is relevant to Chauvin, and § 609.223(1) reads:

Subdivision 1. Substantial bodily harm. — Whoever assaults another and inflicts substantial bodily harm may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $ 10,000, or both.

In summary, then, in order to convict Chauvin of second-degree murder under the facts and legal arguments of this case, the state has to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin intentionally inflicted substantial bodily harm upon Floyd and that Floyd died as a result of that substantial bodily harm.

Further, the state would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin committed this conduct without lawful justification, as justification would be a generalized defense against any use-of-force offense, including Chauvin’s use-of-force upon Floyd (e.g., that the use of force by Chauvin upon Floyd was justified as appropriate under the circumstances of making a lawful arrest of Floyd and/or of securing Floyd’s safety from harm, such as death by excited delirium).

Then there’s the second-degree manslaughter charge against Chauvin, which can be found at § 609.205. Manslaughter in the second degree. § 609.205 consists of 5 subsections, only the first of which is relevant to this case, and § 609.205 reads:

A person who causes the death of another by any of the following means is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $ 20,000, or both:

(1) by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another;

In summary, then, in order to convict Chauvin of second-degree manslaughter under the facts and legal arguments of this case, the state has to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin negligently created an unreasonable risk of causing death or great bodily harm to Floyd, and deliberately disregarded that risk, with Floyd dying as a result (as well as disproving any raised justification defenses beyond a reasonable doubt).

Finally we get to the key issue in the hold-up of today’s proceedings, and that’s the third-degree murder charge the state wishes to bring against Floyd.

Interestingly, when Chauvin was initially charged in this case, those charges consisted of second-degree manslaughter, just discussed, and third-degree murder—Chauvin was not initially charged with second-degree murder at all. (The original charging instrument citing second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder can be seen at the Law of Self Defense blog post of May 29, 2020: “NEWS: Officer Chauvin Charged with Murder of George Floyd.”)

Third-degree murder under Minnesota law can be found at § 609.195. Murder in the third degree. This statute consists of two parts, of which only the first is relevant to this case, and § 609.195(1) reads:

(a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.

In summary, then, in order to convict Chauvin of third-degree murder under the facts and legal arguments of this case, the state has to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin committed an act eminently dangerous to others, disregarded that danger with a depraved mind, and that Floyd died as a result (as well as disproving any raised justification defenses beyond a reasonable doubt).

Importantly, the traditional legal interpretation of this statutory provision has limited its application to circumstances in which the alleged danger created is a danger to people generally, and not a danger created to a specific individual.

Under long-standing Minnesota law, if the victim killed by dangerous conduct was specifically targeted then the appropriate murder charge would be second-degree murder, as described above. Imagine, for example, someone fired a shot in the general direction of the victim with the intent of frightening that victim but without intending to actually strike that victim, but the bullet nevertheless struck and killed the victim. The dangerous conduct was directed at that specific victim, that specific victim died as a result, and the appropriate charge under Minnesota law is second-degree murder.

The crime of third-degree murder under Minnesota law would obviously be entirely duplicitous of second-degree murder if it applied to the same circumstances, a danger created towards a specific individual, and in fact throughout Minnesota legal history it was not believed that third-degree murder was intended to apply to a danger created towards a specific individual.

Rather, third-degree murder was understood to apply when someone created a danger to the public generally, with no particular victim in mind or targeted, and then caused the death of some non-specific individual. Imagine, for example, someone driving a car on the public roads while extremely intoxicated and running over and killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk. That driver never intended harm to that particular individual, but their conduct created a deadly danger to the public generally, and results in the death towards that non-specific individual.

Two different sets of circumstances to which the two distinct degrees of murder under Minnesota law were intended to apply.

Indeed, so well-established is this distinction between second-degree and third-degree murder that when the Chauvin defense argued that the third-degree murder charge originally brought against him must be dismissed because there was zero evidence that Chauvin ever presented a danger to the public generally, and therefore third-degree murder was inapplicable as a matter of law, trial court judge Peter Cahill agreed, and hd did in fact dismiss that charge.

The state’s response was to then charge Chauvin with second-degree murder in place of the dismissed third-degree murder.

The lengthy history of legal decisions affirming this distinction between second-degree and third-degree murder under Minnesota law was recently upended, however, by a precedent-breaking decision handed down by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on this issue just past February 1, 2021. That decision is State v. Noor, 2021 Minn. App. LEXIS 131 (MN Ct. App. 2021).

As brief background, Mohamed Noor was a Minneapolis police officer who, along with his partner in their patrol car, responded to a report of a possible sexual assault occurring in an alley behind the home of Justine Ruszczyk, who had phoned 911 after hearing a ruckus.

When the two officers arrived, with Noor’s partner driving, they rolled through the alley and were apparently about to drive away when they were approached by Ms. Ruszczyk. As she neared the driver’s side of the patrol car, Noor pointed his pistol across his partner’s body and fired a single fatal shot into her abdomen.

Noor would be criminally charged and convicted of third-degree murder for this killing of Ms. Ruszcyzk. He appealed his conviction to the Minnesota court of appeals on various grounds. One of those grounds, relevant to our discussion here, is that third-degree murder was inapplicable to the facts of his case because his purportedly dangerous conduct specifically targeted Ms. Ruszcyzk rather than endangering the public generally—in other words, arguing for the traditional and well-established legal understanding of third-degree murder under Minnesota law.

The three-judge panel hearing Noor’s appeal would for the first time under Minnesota law hold that third-degree murder could apply to a case in which the risk created was not to the public generally, but rather was towards a specific individual.

Interestingly, the court of appeals was unanimous in denying Noor’s appeal on every other ground raised but split on this question of whether third-degree murder could apply to a danger created to a specific individual, with two judges voting for this novel “individual-specific” interpretation of Minnesota law, and the third judge (who wrote a lengthy dissent on this point) holding to the traditional and well-established legal understanding that third-degree murder applied to dangers that were generalized to the public and not specific to an individual.

When this novel interpretation of third-degree murder was handed down by this court of appeals decision on February 1, 2021, the prosecution in the Chauvin case saw a new opportunity to argue that Chauvin, too, should be charged with third-degree murder. After all, the court of appeals said doing so was OK even in the context of a danger created only to an individual and not to the general public, right?

The prosecution then asked the court of appeals to order the trial judge in the Chauvin case, Judge Peter Cahill, to re-impose the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin, on the grounds that the basis for having dismissed that charge earlier—that third-degree murder applied only to generalized dangers—no longer applied given the court of appeals decision in Noor.

The court of appeals didn’t order Judge Cahill to re-impose the third-degree murder charge outright, but it did ask him to re-evaluate whether the third-degree murder charge ought to apply given the Noor decision. This order occurred just this past Friday, March 5, the last day of court business before jury selection was to begin (today!) in the Chauvin case.

Hold on a minute, Chauvin’s defense team argued in response. First of all, that court of appeals decision in the Noor case is still subject to review by the Minnesota Supreme Court, and while that window for Supreme Court review is open the court of appeals ruling is not really final law in Minnesota. So, until the issue is legally finalized, Chauvin ought not be re-charged with third-degree murder.

In response, the prosecution this morning informed the judge that as far as they were concerned, so long as the legal issue of whether third-degree murder should apply to Chauvin was still in play, that meant that the matter was still before the appellate courts (the Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court), and so long as the appellate courts still had jurisdiction of the issue, the trial court itself lacked jurisdiction on the issue.

In fact, the prosecution argued that unless certainty was achieved on the issue of third-degree murder in the Chauvin case, nothing substantive—including jury selection—should move forward, because the state ought to know whether third-degree murder was in play when they were participating in jury selection in the first place.

Judge Cahill appeared rather shocked at the argument that the entire trial be put on hold over this issue, especially given that the jury pool was already sitting at the courthouse waiting to undergo selection. He argued that the case could proceed on every issue other than third-degree murder, including jury selection.

Judge Cahill also recognized, however, that although that was his decision on the question, the prosecution had the option to appeal that decision back to the court of appeals. If the court of appeals said the whole trial had to be paused while third-degree murder was played out in the appellate courts—a process which could take weeks or months—then the trial would be paused.

Unless he was told to pause the entire trial, Judge Cahill intended to proceed, and if necessary simply add the charge of third-degree murder to the jury instructions at the close of the trial (lesser-included charges are routinely added late in trials in this manner).

After a short recess for the prosecution to consider its options, they informed the judge that they had, in fact, filed a motion with the court of appeals to suspend the proceedings pending the resolution of the third-degree murder issue, and were waiting now to hear back from the court of appeals.

And that, folks, is where things sit as I write this. Later this afternoon the court will come back into session, at which point everybody involved is hoping that the court of appeals will have provided some guidance as to the extent to which the trial court will be permitted to proceed with this trial of Derek Chauvin.

When we learn more, you’ll learn more!

In the meantime, I thought perhaps you might be interested in taking a look at the 14-page questionnaire that all prospective jurors were asked to complete earlier in this process.

https://www.scribd.com/document/49788736...from_embed

The prospective jurors answers to those questions will assist both the prosecution and defense in deciding whether jurors should be excused for cause, as well as whether prospective jurors should be dismissed peremptorily (without cause having to be given). Incidentally, Judge Cahill has tripled the normal number of peremptory challenges permitted each side in this case, to 15 peremptory strikes for the defense and 9 for the state.

I should also mention that selected jurors will include 12 jurors and 2 alternates, all of whom will be kept under a “soft” sequester during the trial. That is, their identities will be concealed from the public during the trial, and they will be identified only as numbers during the court proceedings, but they will be permitted to return home each evening and then back to court each morning. During deliberations, however, the jurors are expected to be fully sequestered at the courthouse.

Until next time, stay safe!

–Andrew

Attorney Andrew F. Branca

Link

In the questionnaire their are questions about the jurors feelings toward a Black Live Matter and Blue Lives Matter.
03-09-2021 12:33 PM
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MemTigers1998 Offline
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Post: #19
RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 04:43 PM)Eagleaidaholic Wrote:  I really don't care bout "big cities". If the Left wants to fight their war on their own turf I am all for it. I may even have a load of bricks delivered to a few places to help them out. Nobody will do anything to me.

This. Now, if they wanna come out here and start some trouble, best of luck to them. They just need to make sure their affairs are in order.
03-09-2021 12:40 PM
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Danforth Offline
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Post: #20
RE: Derek Chauvin Trial
(03-08-2021 05:33 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  [Image: 80388f2d-e8d6-424d-9b71-437a35a25969-jpeg.465498]

It's not the fact that he had his knee on him, it's the duration of the knee ride and the unwillingness to stop after his own officers told him to stop.
03-09-2021 12:42 PM
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