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Experts: Derek Chauvin will likely beat third-degree murder charge
I wonder if this article was written before or after the results of the independent autopsy came out, and essentially revealed that the initial autopsy was part of the coverup. I also wonder if this guy ever thought he would become the most hated man in the world overnight because of a fight over a counterfeit $20 that got out of hand.
I’m pretty sure that if a civilian did something like this in Virginia they would have been charged with at least second-degree (non-premeditated) murder, although it could potentially be knocked down to voluntary manslaughter by a sympathetic jury or as part of a plea deal. I’m not sure how the laws are structured in Minnesota.
By Susan Du
City Pages
Within a day of George Floyd’s curbside death at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers responding to a call about a possible counterfeit $20, Chief Medaria Arradondo fired them all.
But the law didn’t catch up with ex-cop Derek Chauvin – the white man who knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes – until he was arrested four days later and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Now legal experts are calling that third-degree murder charge brought by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman “legally defective.”
