A former Minneapolis police officer, convicted of killing George Floyd, filed an appeal with a Minnesota district court late Thursday, citing several complaints related to his trial in April.
Derek Chauvin was sentenced to prison for the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in June.
He was given 22 1/2 years in prison — above what was called for in Minnesota state guidelines, but falling short of the 30 years requested by prosecutors.
Chauvin was found guilty of killing Floyd after kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes while arresting him in May 2020. He was convicted on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Floyd’s death sparked outrage and protests against police violence and racial discrimination across the United States and the world.
Appeal on several grounds
According to documents filed in court, Chauvin has detailed 14 complaints linked to his trial,including accusing the state of prejudicial misconduct.
He claims Judge Peter Cahill, who was in charge of the case, abused the court’s discretion by denying Chauvin’s request to move the trial out of Hennepin County due to pretrial publicity.
He also said the judge abused his discretion on several other occasions, including when he denied a request to sequester the jury for the duration of the trial, or when he denied requests to postpone the trial or grant a new one.
While Chauvin had 90 days from sentencing to file an appeal, he has also filed a motion to put the appeals process on hold until the Supreme Court reviews an earlier decision to deny him a public defender for his appeal.
While his initial case was funded by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association’s legal defense fund, the group has informed him that “their obligation to pay for my representation terminated upon my conviction and sentencing,” he added.
In the latest affidavit, Chauvin said he had no attorney in the appeals process. He also said he had no income aside from nominal prison wages.
