In a predictable turn of events, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is making yet another attempt to overturn his federal civil rights conviction in the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Chauvin claims there’s new evidence that shows he wasn’t responsible for Floyd’s death.
On Monday, a motion filed in federal court reveals that Chauvin stated he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty 2021 if he knew about a certain theory of a Kansas pathologist to whom he started talking in February.
He is now requesting the judge who presided over his trial throw out his conviction and order a new trial. If that doesn’t work, he wants an evidentiary hearing. Chauvin filed the request without an attorney.
He is currently serving a 21-year sentence in a Arizona federal prison. In July, Chauvin made a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to review his conviction — the result of the Minnesota Supreme Court refusing to hear the case, Chauvin’s attorney William Mohrman said. The result from his request is still pending.
Chauvin now claims that Dr. William Schaetzel told him that he believes Floyd died not from asphyxia from Chauvin’s behavior, but from complications of a rare tumor called a paraganglioma that can be a catalyst for a lethal surge of adrenaline.
The pathologist did not examine Floyd’s body but looked at autopsy reports. Chauvin also said that in 2021, Schaetzel contacted his trial attorney, Eric Nelson, in addition to the judge and prosecution in his state court murder trial. He contends that Nelson never alerted him to the pathologist’s theory.
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin killed Floyd by placing his knee on his neck during an arrest. The tragic incident, which was recorded by bystanders, lasted for nine and a half minutes. In one video, Floyd and be heard saying “I can’t breathe.” His death sparked police brutality protests all across the country.
Chauvin pleaded guilty to a separate federal civil rights charge after being convicted by the state.