A court of appeals upheld Derek Chauvin's conviction for the second-degree murder of George Floyd in 2020, which he committed while serving as a Minneapolis police officer.
Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter on April 20, 2021. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.
He later pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights in December 2021. He was sentenced to another 21 years in prison, which he is serving concurrently with his state sentence.
On Monday, a panel of three judges at the Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected Chauvin's request for a new trial.
George Floyd died in 2020 after Chauvin knelt on his neck while restraining him (Picture: AP)
Shortly after his state conviction, Chauvin appealed. Attorney for Chauvin William Mohrman claimed that Judge Peter Cahill erred by rejecting the defendant's requests to have the trial moved out of Minneapolis and for the jury to be sequestered because of heavy media coverage.
A district court does not abuse its discretion by denying the motions if it takes sufficient mitigating steps and verifies that the jurors can set aside their impressions or opinions and deliver a fair and impartial verdict,' Presiding Judge Peter Reyes wrote in his decision.
The appeals court found that Judge Cahill took proper precautions by sequestering potential jurors during jury selection and by banning video and audio recordings of the pre-trial proceedings.
Floyd's death sparked a protest movement against police brutality (Picture: Kerem Yucel / AFP)
Chauvin also argued that as a police officer he could not be convicted of the crime of unintentional murder because he was authorized to use force to arrest resisting suspectings.
The appeals court noted that Chauvin's defense did not bring up this argument at his first trial, but also disagreed with the premise.
'Police officers obviously have a demanding, stressful, and occasionally hazardous job, according to Reyes. No one is exempt from the law, though. They must be held accountable for their actions when they commit crimes in the same way as people that they properly detain.
The law only allows police officers to use reasonable force when making a valid arrest, he continued. When Chauvin hit Floyd with disproportionate force, he went over the line.
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