Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now
Sign up
*Password must be at least 8 characters and contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number and one symbol.
Already have an account?
By submitting, you consent that you are at least 18 years of age and to receive information about MPR's or APMG entities' programs and offerings. The personally identifying information you provide will not be sold, shared, or used for purposes other than to communicate with you about MPR, APMG entities, and its sponsors. You may opt-out at any time clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email communication. View our Privacy Policy.
Sign in to your profile
Forgot Password?
New to MPR News?
Welcome back
to news
for you
Reset Password

Enter the username on file and we'll send you a code to reset your password.

Still require assistance or not sure what your User Name is?
Welcome back
to news
for you
Email Verification

A verification code has been emailed to

Still awaiting the code?
Crime, Law and Justice
The Associated Press
St. Paul

Chauvin appeals conviction in George Floyd's murder to the Minnesota Supreme Court

portrait of a man with a grey suit
In this image taken from a video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court at the Hennepin County Courthouse on June 25, in Minneapolis.
Court TV via AP 2021

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Log inCreate a free Account

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin appealed his murder conviction in the killing of George Floyd to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying the district judge's decision not to move the proceedings out of the city deprived him of a fair trial.

His attorney, William Mohrman, filed a petition for review with the state's highest court a month after the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Chauvin's conviction for second-degree murder and let his 22 1/2-year sentence remain in place.

Morhman had unsuccessfully asked the appeals court to throw out the ex-officer's conviction for a long list of reasons, including the massive pretrial publicity. But the three-judge panel last month sided with prosecutors who said Chauvin got a fair trial and just sentence. Chauvin raises several of those arguments again in his latest appeal.

“We're very hopeful that the Minnesota Supreme Court will accept review of the case,” Mohrman said.

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on the Black man's neck for 9 1/2 minutes. A bystander video captured Floyd's fading cries of “I can't breathe.” Floyd's death touched off protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

The Minnesota Supreme Court could agree to hear Chauvin's appeal, in which case it would ask each side for detailed briefs and later set a date for oral arguments. Or it could let the Court of Appeals ruling stand.

Morhman wrote in the petition that the case presents the state Supreme Court with important questions on “developing and clarifying due process requirements to transfer venue when there is unprecedented pervasive pretrial publicity coupled with community violence.”

He also wrote that it raises issues about rules regarding juror misconduct. One juror participated in a civil rights event commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, D.C., a few months after Floyd's death. Only after the trial did the juror reveal that he had been there. The Court of Appeals declined to send the case back to the trial judge for a hearing on whether the juror's nondisclosure constituted misconduct.

Chauvin pleaded guilty to a separate federal civil rights charge and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison, which he is now serving in Arizona concurrent with his state sentence.

“Police officers undoubtedly have a challenging, difficult, and sometimes dangerous job. However, no one is above the law,” Judge Peter Reyes wrote for the Court of Appeals last month. “When they commit a crime, they must be held accountable just as those individuals that they lawfully apprehend. The law only permits police officers to use reasonable force when effecting a lawful arrest. Chauvin crossed that line here when he used unreasonable force on Floyd.”