Revision as of 05:39, 25 March 2021 by BloodyRose(talk | contribs)(→Misconduct complaints: not what the source says or what is in the video - "Chauvin watched calmly and silently, tapping an object against his leg, as Kueng and Lane worked the handcuffs onto Adrian's wrists.")
Chauvin's murder trial began on March 8, 2021, with opening statements anticipated on March 29.[8]
Early life and education
Chauvin was born in 1976.[9][10] His mother was a housewife and his father was a certified public accountant.[11] At the age of seven, his parents divorced and were granted joint custody of him.[11]
Chauvin joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 2001.[13][17]
He received a medal for valor in 2006 for being one of several officers who fired on a suspect who pointed a shotgun at them, and another in 2008 for a domestic-violence incident in which he broke down a door and shot a suspect who reached for his pistol.[18][19] He received a commendation medal in 2008 after he and his partner tackled a fleeing suspect holding a pistol. He received a commendation medal in 2009 after working off-duty as a security guard for a nightclub.[16]
Misconduct complaints
Chauvin had 18 complaints on his official record, two of which ended in discipline, including official letters of reprimand.[20]
He had been involved in three police shootings, one of which was fatal.[17][21][22][23]
According to the former owner of El Nuevo Rodeo, a Latin nightclub, Chauvin had worked there off duty as security while George Floyd was also working as security, but was not certain whether they knew each other.[24][25] The owner has been critical of Chauvin since his arrest, describing Chauvin's tactics as "overkill" and saying "Chauvin was unnecessarily aggressive on nights when the club had a black clientele, quelling fights by dousing the crowd with pepper spray and calling in several police squad cars as backup".[16] The owner also said Chauvin responded to fights by spraying the crowd with mace instead of dealing with those who were fighting.[discuss][26]
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin was one of four officers involved in arresting George Floyd on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a market and was the field training officer for one of the other officers involved.[27]
Security camera footage from a nearby business did not show Floyd resisting the arrest.[28][29] The criminal complaint stated that, based on body camera footage, Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe while standing outside the police car, resisted getting in the car and fell down;[30] he went to the ground face down. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the street, Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes.[31][1] After Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd's neck, Floyd repeatedly said "I can't breathe", "Mama", and "please".[32] For part of the time, two other officers knelt on Floyd's back.[33] During the final two[34] minutes Floyd was motionless and had no pulse.[35] Several bystanders took videos which were widely circulated and broadcast.[32]
Chauvin and the other officers involved were fired the day following the incident.[36] While knee-to-neck restraints are allowed in Minnesota under certain circumstances, Chauvin's use of the technique has been widely criticized by law enforcement experts as excessive.[37][38][39] On June 23, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said that Chauvin had been trained in the dangers of positional asphyxiation and characterized Floyd's death as murder.[40]
On May 31, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison took over the case at the request of Governor Tim Walz. On June 3, Ellison amended the charges against Chauvin to include unintentional second-degree murder under the felony murder doctrine, alleging that Chauvin killed Floyd in the course of committing assault in the third degree;[46][47]
Minnesota sentencing guidelines recommend 12.5 years imprisonment on conviction of that charge.[48] Bail for Chauvin was set at $1.25 million.[49] Prior to Chauvin's arrest, his attorney and prosecutors had made unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a plea bargain to cover both state and federal charges.[50] Additionally, Ellison also charged the three other officers with aiding and abetting second-degree murder[5][51][48] with bail set to $1 million.[52]
Eight correctional officers at the Ramsey County Jail filed a discrimination complaint against supervisors at the jail with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, alleging that during Chauvin's brief stay before his transfer to a state prison, non-white guards were not allowed to work on the fifth floor where Chauvin was being held. Their complaint also alleged that a guard saw a white lieutenant sit on Chauvin's bed and that she permitted Chauvin to use her cellphone. Responding to the complaint, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights said it was opening an investigation to determine whether discrimination took place.[53]
Bail
Chauvin was released on conditional bail on October 7, 2020 after posting a bond of $1 million.[54][55] Court documentation provided that, as conditions for his bail, Chauvin's supervised release from prison will be forfeited if he declines to appear before a magistrate, refuses to appear in court on scheduled dates, leaves the state of Minnesota without court approval, or has contact with Floyd's family.[54][56] On October 22, 2020, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill dismissed the third-degree murder charge, but also denied Chauvin's motion to dismiss the other, more serious murder charges.[57][58] On November 5, 2020, Judge Cahill ruled that Chauvin and all three of the others charged would be tried together in Hennepin County.[59][60] However, on January 13, 2021, Judge Cahill reversed his earlier ruling, deciding that Chauvin would be tried separately from the other three officers.[61] The trial was scheduled to begin March 8, 2021.[6]
The trial of Chauvin, officially State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin, began on March 8, 2021 at the Hennepin County Government Center.[63] Chauvin’s murder trial marks the first time that a judge in Minnesota has authorized cameras to show a full criminal trial.[63]
Jury
On December 22, 2020, prospective jurors in Hennepin County were mailed a questionnaire asking about their views on the criminal justice system, the police, and social movements.[63][64] The questionnaire also asked prospective jurors to disclose how many times they viewed videos of Floyd's death and whether they participated in the George Floyd protests.[63][64] The jurors showed fear and anxiety.[65][66]
On March 8, 2021, jury selection was delayed until at least March 9, pending consideration of the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin.[8] Jury selection began on March 9, with the third-degree murder issue still unresolved by the Court of Appeals.[67] During jury selection, lawyers often focused their questions on prospective jurors' views on Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, and defunding the police.[68] As of March 13, seven jurors are seated, including one multiracial woman, one Black man, one Hispanic man, a white woman, and three white men.[2][69][70][71] On March 22, 2021, the jury selection was nearing its completion after another juror was seated; a white female social worker in her 20s.[72]
Additional charge
On March 11, 2021, Judge Peter Cahill reinstated the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin.[2] The decision came after the Minnesota Supreme Court on March 10 denied the defense's petition for review of a Court of Appeals decision requiring Cahill to reconsider reinstating the charge.[2][3]
Opening statements
Opening statements from the prosecution and the defense are anticipated on March 29, 2021.[8]
Other legal issues
Civil rights investigation
The U.S. Department of Justice convened a grand jury in February 2021 to investigate Chauvin for several civil rights charges. The investigation included the killing of Floyd on May 25, 2020, and other incidents involving Chauvin, such as a September 2017 case where Chauvin pinned a 14-year old boy for several minutes with his knee while ignoring the boy's pleas that he couldn't breathe; the boy briefly lost consciousness. Though the 2017 case was similar to the 2020 killing of Floyd, it was deemed as inadmissible by the judge overseeing the trial of Chauvin for Floyd's murder.[73][74]
Tax evasion charges
Following the murder charges against him, Chauvin and his wife were charged with multiple felony counts of tax evasion[75] related to allegedly fraudulent tax returns from 2014 to 2019.[76] The Washington County prosecutor's office announced on July 22, 2020 that Chauvin and his wife under-reported joint income by a total of $464,433, including more than $95,000 from Chauvin's off-duty security work.[77] The complaint also alleges failure to pay proper sales tax on a $100,000 BMW purchased in Minnesota in 2018, failure to declare income from Chauvin's wife's business, and improperly accounted-for deductions on a rental home.[78]
Personal life
Chauvin married a real estate agent and photographer;[78] she is a Hmong refugee from Laos who competed in a "Mrs. Minnesota" beauty pageant in 2018.[79][80] She filed for divorce the day before he was arrested for Floyd's death.[81][75][82]
^"George Floyd: What we know about the officers charged over his death". BBC News. June 8, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020. Prior to his career in the police, Mr Chauvin served two stints in the US Army. He was a member of the military police from September 1996 to February 1997, and again from September 1999 to May 2000. His other previous jobs include security guard and McDonald's employee.
^"Minneapolis police officer involved in weekend shooting ID'd". Twin Cities Pioneer Press. November 13, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2020. Chauvin and another officer who responded had to force their way into the apartment. Toles ran from the officers as soon as they got inside, but they caught and tried to subdue him, according to police. In the struggle, Toles grabbed at one of the officer's guns. Chauvin fired at Toles and hit him in the torso.
