Moments ago, the legal team for Derek Chauvin made their case to retry the former police officers murder trial in another location due to the immense publicity that the case received before the trial. And although an official decision isn’t expected to made until April of this year, the three-member panel struck down their arguments immediately.
“Our primary argument here is that this case could not be tried in Minneapolis because of the pretrial publicity which was pervasive … and also just the physical pressure on the courthouse,” Chauvin lawyer William Mohrman said, according to NPR.
Neal Katyal, former Acting U.S. Solicitor General who represents the state of Minnesota, countered Mohrman’s claims by calling Chauvin’s trial “one of the most transparent and thorough … in our nation’s history.”
Katyal added more, saying these arguments before the appeals court “do not come close” to justifying a reversal, and that even if they did, “the evidence of Chauvin’s guilt was captured on video for the world to see.”
Chauvin is currently serving a 22.5-year prison sentence that he received in June of 2021 after a jury found him guilty on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
According to NPR, even if Chauvin were to win an appeal in state court, he would still serve a considerable amount of time in federal prison.
This is a breaking story. Stay tuned for more…
