(TotalConservative.com) – Derek Chauvin, the former police officer from Minneapolis convicted for second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd, wants to bring his request to have his conviction reviewed to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Supreme Court of Minneapolis declined to hear it.
On Wednesday, Chauvin’s attorney made a statement that their client will continue to pursue a review of his conviction in a higher court after the Minnesota Supreme Court sent a one-page letter the previous day denying his petition without comment. The odds will be against him in the U.S. Supreme Court, which receives over 7,000 case appeals annually while only hearing about 150 of them.
On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd died while being arrested by Chauvin and a few other officers. A video of Chauvin with his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck, which lasted nine and half minutes, went viral online and on every television network, sparking a wave of Black Lives Matter protests across the country. A few days later, riots in Washington, D.C., led to then-President Donald Trump being sent into a bunker while a historic church near the White House was set on fire.
The trial of Chauvin became a national spectacle, broadcast across the country. Chauvin’s attorney said that Chauvin’s trial “generated the most amount of pretrial publicity in history.”
The attorney also mentioned the riots that followed Floyd’s death, which made the jury concerned for their safety if they decided to acquit Chauvin. Such concerns were a reality made clear by the fact that the courthouse was surrounded by barbed wire and troops from the National Guard. Despite the massive publicity, requests to hold the trial outside of Minneapolis were denied.
Chauvin’s request to have his conviction reviewed was originally made to the Court of Appeals of Minnesota in April, which rejected the arguments that Chauvin didn’t receive a fair trial. The office of the Minnesota attorney general then asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to let the ruling by the Court of Appeals stand.
Chauvin and his lawyer will have to take their review request to the federal level, although it is likely they will be turned down a third time.
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