George Floyd’s Legal Team Says Derek Chauvin Appeal Won’t Hold Up In Court
Ben Crump, a family lawyer for George Floyd, said in a news report on Sunday (May 2) that ex-Minneapolis police Derek Chauvin has no chance of a successful appeal after he was found guilty of all three charges against him.
Crump reached the conclusion after Brandon Mitchell, a juror, told Gayle King on CBS This Morning on Wednesday (April 28) that they felt no outside pressure to convict the white police officer, a line of defense Chauvin's attorney suggested might be used in an appeal.
“The pressure more so came from just being in the room and being under stress,” Mitchell told King. “But it wasn’t pressure to come to a guilty verdict.”
Crump said Mitchell’s statement “completely obliterates” any argument that defense could be planning to make, TMZ reports.
Chauvin, on April 20, 2021 was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after he knelt on Floyd's neck for more than 9 minutes on May 25, 2020. He was convicted after a two-week trial.
The jury in Hennepin County Government Center took roughly 10 hours to return a verdict after prosecutors and defense attorneys finished their closing statements. Chauvin was immediately handcuffed, led out of the courtroom by a bailiff and remanded to the custody of the State of Minnesota. Bail was revoked.
Chauvin faces as many as 40 years in prison when sentencing is pronounced. He opted Monday to have Judge Cahill sentence him in the case of conviction on aggravated charges rather than allowing a jury to decide. A sentencing hearing is tentatively scheduled for June 25th, King said.
Watch Mithell’s interview below:
