Derek Chauvin’s trial should’ve been relocated from Minneapolis.
Derek Chauvin’s Trial: A Spectacle of Prejudice and Fear
Derek Chauvin’s trial took place in a Minneapolis courthouse surrounded by barbed wire, concrete block, armored personnel carriers, and a squad of national guard troops. The heavy security presence was a clear indication that the city was prepared for riots if the jury acquitted Chauvin. The question is, would you want to be tried before a jury bracing for a riot if it acquitted you? The Sixth Amendment guarantees a “fair trial,” but in Chauvin’s case, that guarantee was violated.
Chauvin is now seeking to have the Supreme Court find his trial unconstitutional and order a retrial in a community where riots wouldn’t break out if he were acquitted. The circumstances surrounding his trial were undeniably biased and prejudiced.
The Unreported Details
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd died while Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers attempted to arrest him. While the incident received widespread media coverage, there were details that were not widely reported. For example, the Minneapolis Police Department trained its officers to use the restraint technique that Chauvin and the other officers used on Floyd. This technique was deemed acceptable by the department.
However, the state objected when Chauvin’s attorney tried to introduce a photograph of the technique into evidence, arguing that there was no evidence Chauvin was trained on it. The court sustained the objection, but the issue was not whether Chauvin was trained on the technique, but rather whether it was an acceptable use of police force. Numerous academic studies have refuted the claim that placing weight on a suspect’s back can cause positional asphyxia.
It’s Not About the Neck
The widely circulated narrative that Chauvin choked Floyd to death by placing his knee on Floyd’s neck is false. Both the state’s medical expert and Chauvin’s medical expert agreed that Floyd died of a cardiac arrhythmia, not suffocation. The weight of Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s back restricted his chest from expanding sufficiently for him to breathe in enough oxygen. However, academic studies have refuted the claim that this technique can cause death from positional asphyxia.
Other factors, such as high blood pressure, blockage in coronary arteries, an enlarged heart, recent drug use, and stress, were contributing factors to Floyd’s cardiac arrhythmia. These factors were admitted by the state’s medical experts during the trial.
A Trial by Fear
In order to convict Chauvin, the jury had to believe two expert opinions offered by the state: that Chauvin used unreasonable force in restraining Floyd and that this force was a substantial cause of Floyd’s death. These opinions were heavily contested at trial, yet the jury returned a guilty verdict after only one day of deliberation. This highlights the importance of the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a trial before an impartial jury.
Excessive pre-trial publicity can violate a defendant’s right to a fair trial, and the Supreme Court has recognized this in numerous cases. The potential jurors’ exposure to the overwhelming pre-trial publicity and its effects in the community could have led them to conclude Chauvin’s guilt before the trial even began. In such cases, the court must move the trial to a location unaffected by the alleged crime or massive pre-trial publicity.
It is undeniable that Floyd’s death, the riots in Minneapolis, and the state charging Chauvin generated unprecedented pre-trial publicity. The viral video of Chauvin and the other officers using the restraint technique, along with the extensive media coverage, created a biased narrative against Chauvin. All 131 potential jurors examined for the trial had been exposed to this pre-trial publicity, and many were removed due to their prejudice against Chauvin.
The jurors themselves lived in the communities that were affected by the riots. They knew that their personal safety and the safety of their families were at risk if they acquitted Chauvin. The threats and the deployment of soldiers to protect the courthouse and the city during the trial were clear indications of the potential danger they faced.
The Sixth Amendment prohibits trying a defendant before a jury that has such a personal stake in the outcome of the trial. The overwhelming pre-trial publicity and the threats of violence demanded that Chauvin’s trial be moved out of Minneapolis. The right to a fair trial was compromised, and justice was overshadowed by fear.
William F. Mohrman is an attorney practicing in Minneapolis. Mr. Mohrman is representing Derek Chauvin on his appeal. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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