Remember Derek Chauvin? His trial is coming up
On March 8, 2021, jury selection will begin in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for the alleged murder of George Floyd, and the city and state governments are preparing for another round of violence, rioting, looting, and burning similar to that which followed Floyd’s death.
I’m sure the judge and jury won’t feel the least bit intimidated.
And of course it will be easy to find jurors who don’t already know that Chauvin is guilty. After all, “guilty” is what just about everyone has been saying from the start. I did a series of posts on what I consider strong exculpatory evidence (you can find some of them here), but how many people are even aware that such evidence exists? A fair trial, of course, is supposed to call attention to such evidence. But I suspect this one has been hopelessly tainted by the ferocity of the widespread rush to judgment.
The author of this piece concludes:
It’s time to call a halt to this farce and to move Derek Chauvin’s trial to a venue far away from the war zone formerly known as Minneapolis.
Agreed. The only problem is I don’t think there’s a place on earth far enough away to contain a pool of unbiased jurors. But most places would be better than Minneapolis.
Scott Johnson of Powerline has some information on the Goliath versus David aspects of the prosecution versus the defense:
At the behest of the mob, Governor Walz lifted responsibility for the prosecution from the office of the Hennepin County Attorney and assigned it to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Ellison has named Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank to lead the prosecution.
• Ellison’s office employs more than 130 attorneys. Despite the huge staff of attorney at his disposal, Ellison has called in reinforcements to assist them.
• This past June Ellison announced the appointment of four outside attorneys in private practice or serving as corporate counsel as special assistants on the case (press release here). The special assistants include Steve Schleicher of Maslon LLP, Jerry Blackwell of Blackwell Burke, both of Minneapolis, and Lola Velázquez-Aguilu, lead counsel for brain modulation [!] at Medtronic in Fridley.
• The fourth outside attorney is the star of the group: former Obama administration acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, now in private practice at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C….
All the outside attorneys named in the case are serving Ellison’s office pro bono…
• Chauvin is represented by criminal defense attorney Eric Nelson. So far as I am aware, he has no outside help, pro bono or otherwise. If you’re looking for Atticus Finch in the case, Nelson will have to serve.
How many death threats do you think Eric Nelson has gotten so far?
Here’s a ray of light:
Judge Cahill is a former Assistant Hennepin County Attorney and a former criminal defense attorney. I have been favorably impressed with his rulings so far.
John Roberts purportedly refused to hear the case regarding the unconstitutional election procedures in Pennsylvania because he feared the mob’s reaction. We must hope that Minnesota jurors are braver than him.
Originally, Minneapolis had planned to pay large sums to “social media influencers” in order to disseminate information (i.e. propaganda) about the trial, but those plans have now, apparently, been abandoned. The likelihood of a truly fair trial is not high, but what is absolutely certain is that, in the event of an acquittal, not only will local riots and mayhem ensue, but massive unrest in cities from coast to coast. The DOJ might also attempt to skirt the issue of “double jeopardy” with some other charges.
I began commenting on this blog at the time of the trashing of the Covington kids.
But the Covington business pales in comparison to this very high-tech lynching of Derek Chauvin. Chauvin committed no crime. Floyd was a degenerate thug who OD’d during a legitimate arrest.
Cahill could’ve granted a change of venue for this miscarriage. He refused.
Scott Johnson referenced “The Ox-Bow Incident”. This case reminds more of the conclusion of the trial in Faulkner’s “Sanctuary”.
We will see who steps up to speak out against this vicious infamy.
Guilty penalty will be the only acceptable outcome and still may not stop rioters.
Some will demand the death penalty apply that was abolished in 1911.
Well, I’ll speak out against this vicious infamy, but I am a nobody and my opinion doesn’t count.
I am still working over that job description, “lead counsel for brain modulation”. Brain modulation seems to be a high priority for Democrats these days.
Regardless of his ultimate guilt or innocence, it is vile that so many active members of the Bar rushed to incriminate him prior to this trial. Even members of the Senate and House who do not have law degrees should be castigated for playing politics at the expense of our 14th Amendment.
Disgusting.
The first riots did almost no damage downtown, focused on Lake Street. Riot 2.0 was downtown (started by false social media), but some pharmacies and liquor stores were hit in other areas. This time there is some desire on the part of businesses to try to look like they don’t expect riots. But others . . . The downtown Target never restocked the liquor store after 2.0, and have put up temporary barriers in the entry. Other businesses have plans. One of the obvious goals is to keep rioters out of the second floor Skyway system, which links all the downtown buildings, and is far less robust in terms of physical security.
Chauvin’s attorney has been practicing law for about 20 years and is associated with a firm whose practice is limited to criminal defense. He attended low rent schools but apparently passed the bar exam on his first attempt. I doubt there are many lawyers in private practice in Minnesota who have as much time under their belt in the realm of criminal defense as does this Mr. Nelson. The judge Peter Cahill has worked as a prosecutor and a private criminal defense lawyer.
Ellison’s office will be represented by one Matthew Frank, who Ellison avers is an assistant attorney-general. The Minnesota Bar Association lists only one attorney named Matthew Frank, who is a labor law specialist associated with the firm of Nichols Kasten. Nichols Kasten still lists him as an associate. Either there are two Matthew Franks (one of whom is not a member of the Bar Associations) or Ellison has hired outside counsel. Matthew Frank the labor lawyer appears to be generically very smart and some sort of social ideologue, but he has no history in criminal law.
Evidently the lawyer for the state will be Matthew Glen Frank, admitted in 1991 and employed by the state attorney-general’s office, not Matthew Alan Frank the labor lawyer.
Given that Mr. Nelson is a very competent defense attorney, it seems the autopsy, showing a fatal drug overdose, and the police videos will provide a strong reasonable doubt, at the very least. If a jury convicts in spite of that evidence, can that error of fact be appealed?
Has everybody read the medical examiners report? People who died from fentanyl overdose had readings from 0.75 ng/mL to an astounding 113 ng/mL. The average death dose was 9.96 ng/mL. According to George Floyd’s toxicology report, his blood contained 11.0 ng/mL Fentanyl, plus 5.6 ng/mL norfentanyl, 19 ng/mL of methamphetamine, and three other drugs. To explain norfentanyl, the body metabolizes fentanyl into norfentanyl. Floyd was a dead man when the police arrived. His lungs were filling with fluid, that’s why he couldn’t breath. It was noted that his lungs were full of fluid. He drowned.
Good. Let Minneapolis burn. To the ground. And the whole political class of the area with it. There is nothing worth salvaging in such a corrupt polity and the masochistic and cowardly populace that makes it up.
And I say this having initially been persuaded by news reports that Chauvin was guilty of negligent homicide at the least.
But, the weak and dysfunctional of this country, with their rabid emotionalism, and lives dedicated to avenging themselves on those who don’t share the burden of them being who and what they are, no longer deserve protection from the fallout of their own behaviors and attitudes.
There is no such thing as an innocent collectivist or progressive.
One good thing is that soon, with just a few more burning cities, you will be able to peddle those 50 year old boxes of what was then already obsolete hunting ammo for 100 bucks a box, to frightened liberals who are incapable of using it to defend themselves anyway.
So, yeah, there is some karmic justice in the world.
Of all the impossibilities: 30-40 Krag selling for 60 dollars a box of 20 cartridges …
I’m pretty sure the jurors will be without–obviously and as a lesson–security for themselves and their families.
If their homes are attacked by screaming mobs, will it make a difference in court?
Minneapolis will surely (I hope!) be shielding jurors from pubic identification. the trial will be live-streamed, but it would be wildly irresponsible to show jurors’ faces.
I would hope this trial would be done properly and justice served. Unfortunately, I know, as do all here, that this trial will not serve justice. The threat of violence hangs over the jury, the defense counsel, the judge, and the city itself. With that fact staring them in the face, the obvious thing will be to sacrifice officer Chauvin on the alter of racial equity, or anti-racism, or community harmony, or profound cowardice.
Five years ago, if you had described the events of the last year to me, I would have assumed you were smoking something very strong. Yet, here we are. As Lex opined so often – it is to weep.
“The threat of violence…”
We are being ruled by thugs.
What we are seeing is “merely” trickle down thuggonomics…
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/flipping-byrd-squad-democrats-demand-firing-senate-parliamentarian-over-min-wage-mess
If he’s acquitted, the Feds simply slap him with whatever Hate Crime and Civil Rights Infringement charges they can make fit and it’s double or triple jeopardy time.
Chauvin can expect zero justice. This is an obscenity.
scapegoat:
1: a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur
2a: one that bears the blame for others
2b: one that is the object of irrational hostility
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scapegoat
_______________________________
Rene Girard did have a point or two.
“Kindly step this way into the Wicker Man, Sir!”
Nothing like that (really, really, really) Old Time Religion making a comeback, is there?
Best done soon to guarantee this year’s harvest.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/06/26/the-lottery
Zaphod:
Tradition!
It matters not that Officer Chauvin is innocent of harming Floyd in any meaningful way. For it is not Chauvin who is on trial.
It is every white American that is on trial, even onto the yet unborn.
Nor can any other verdict than guilty be ‘just’, for as CRT posits… all whites stand condemned with its inescapable conclusion being that only cultural and racial suicide can ‘atone’ for the white race’s ancestral and ‘systemic’ sins.
huxley has the right of it. Officer Chauvin is simply the scapegoated symbol of white guilt.
Officer Chauvin is not the only person at serious risk. Perhaps less well-defended and more vulnerable will be the jurors. They have a very difficult and perilous task at hand.
The fact that the venue was not moved away from Minneapolis communicates very clearly that the city and state are committed to providing a venue for a lawful lynching, and nothing less will do. I have family that used to live in that urban area, and I am eternally thankful that they no longer do.
@GB:
Zaphodkin waving his Tricorn: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
CivNats: “Eh? I have always relied on the kindness of strangers. No! Not that line.. Thomas Sowell! Yes, Thomas Sowell… A Man for Our Times!”
On the subject of secondary federal civil rights charges, I have yet to see any evidence whatever of racial animus on the part of Chauvin or any of the other officers. Not that evidence matters to the mob …
Chauvin is toast no matter what the outcome. If by some miracle he was not convicted, the mob would get to him sooner or later. If he is convicted, they would have to keep him in solitary confinement to protect him. And even there they would have to watch him 24-7, just like they did Jeffrey Epstein….
@Kate:
And do you think that would matter to your Garden Variety Federal DA in the Current Year?
The Mob is always with us in one way or another. The Mob is not the problem. The Elites getting medieval on the White Middle and Working Classes is the problem. The mob is simply one of the tools in their arsenal.
If by some miracle he was not convicted, the mob would get to him sooner or later.
A hung jury won’t take a miracle. NB, George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson are still alive, so the mob’s taking its time.
Geoffrey Britain continues to astonish me with his direct, straight to the point, heroic fortitude. Blunt speaking was never so perspicacious.
And Zaphod concludes “Chauvin can expect zero justice. This is an obscenity.” Indeed, that is what I expect.
With all due respect, I think this time it is different than Zimmerman or Wilson.
“If he’s acquitted, the Feds simply slap him with whatever Hate Crime and Civil Rights Infringement charges they can make fit and it’s double or triple jeopardy time.” – Zaphod
Remember that George Zimmerman was acquitted at trial for the death of Trayvon Martin, which was found by the jury to NOT be murder, and no civil rights charges were ever filed.
(Wikipedia covers the story thoroughly and fairly so far as I can tell.)
“With all due respect, I think this time it is different than Zimmerman or Wilson.” – Homeric
I fear you are correct.
The Breitbart story at the time could be repeated for the Floyd trial.
There are things the media is not telling people.
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2013/07/17/10-facts-the-media-arent-telling-you-about-the-zimmerman-case/
“Originally, Minneapolis had planned to pay large sums to “social media influencers” in order to disseminate information.” – je
As I understood that situation, there was some attempt to let people down gently and explain why an acquittal was possible (and in my opinion warranted), but someone obviously decided not to go there after all.
Be interesting to know what was going on there.
Chosen at random
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/minneapolis-scraps-plans-pay-social-media-influencers-spread/story?id=76181724
I predicted over the summer. That this trial regardless of merit would result in a guilty verdict.
I still think it will. Followed by an appeal where Chauvin will end up waiting 2 years in prison. And his appeal would overturn the verdict. An order for a retrial that will never come.
This has happened so many times previously in officer involved deaths. Usually during the time between the conviction and overturning the verdict.The family will settle for (x) millions of dollars.
The actual merits never seem to matter all the much. The local judge and jury wont be able to withstand the intense pressure and will convict.
“If he’s acquitted, the Feds simply slap him with whatever Hate Crime and Civil Rights Infringement charges they can make fit and it’s double or triple jeopardy time.” – Zaphod
This is what happened to the Rodney King cops. Pure double jeopardy. The CHP cop, Melanie Singer, who was ready to shoot King when the LAPD arrived, testified against them at both trials and retired on stress disability.
Chauvin’s conviction will send a clear message to the entire nation… in Minneapolis as well as every other city, town and county… a police officer following the law now carries a high risk of imprisonment, should they be forced by circumstance to deal with a violent black criminal resisting arrest.
Hell, they don’t even have to be violent, regardless of circumstance, if a black person dies while they’re in police custody and it serves the left’s race war agenda… the police involved will face a murder charge.
If Chauvin is found guilty, every single Minneapolis police officer should immediately quit, en mass.
Let every patriot contribute toward their financial needs while they secure other employment.
The entire Minneapolis police force quitting on the same day would also send a message…
And their quitting would most affect blacks.
In the aggregate, blacks refuse to face the truth of their group’s high arrest and imprisonment rates, let them reap what they’ve sown.
Maybe Lebron James will volunteer to work part time in Minneapolis’ new “public safety department”… perhaps he could team up with Whoppie Goldberg.
Is there some way that we can contribute to officer Chauvin’s defense fund? Does anyone know whether his union is backing him?
Would a jury of 12 use of force police experts come to the same conclusion as a jury of 12 normal citizens in a jury pool after sitting through this trial. The optics in this case are not good and a normal citizen watches this video and is horrified. The MSM further fans the flames. If you look at the facts of this case objectively chauvin is in no way guilty of murder. This is not good news for all the blood thirsty idiots who want to nail him to a cross and burn him. Every person is entitled to a fair trial and has to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt no matter what their skin color is or what they do for a living.
and a normal citizen watches this video and is horrified.
You need to butch up. There’s nothing horrifying in the video, especially if you see the preliminaries.
Art Deco,
From what I know Darren Wilson has been in hiding since his trial. I believe he has changed his name. The mob didn’t get him because he disappeared. I doubt this is how Mr. Wilson would choose to live.
“The optics in this case are not good and a normal citizen watches this video and is horrified.”
No, the “normal citizen” who sees only a very specific *portion* of the video is “horrified”. Once you see the portion where he is literally complaining that he can’t breathe *before the police have touched him*, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell what killed him.
Once you see the actual evidence on the police training (and the reasons behind that training), and you see that the officers followed that training (including calling the paramedics immediately to come help a man with an OD), you are left with nothing to be horrified with, except perhaps having never seen someone die of a drug OD before.
So, Deoxy, are you suggesting the standard should be that someone is innocent until proven guilty? That there must be some process where evidence is presented and examined to determine guilt, and if the evidence is inconclusive the person cannot be convicted of the crime?
That’s crazy talk!
1) Everyone in this jury pool knows that if they do not find him guilty they will be doxxed and have their lives ruined – and probably before they reach any decision, just to make sure they know what their duty is.
2) Every one in the world knows these precautions are against the hometown team of violent Leftists. No one expects riots by any other group with a guilty verdict. Yet, we remain the problem.
A fair trial under these circumstances is impossible.
No one expects the Spani …. thwack.
Scott Johnson reports that Court TV will be covering the Chauvin trial “gavel-to-gavel”.
There’s something about that idea that’s redolent of a snuff film.
George Parry spells it out. A “terrorized jury” indeed.
https://spectator.org/derek-chauvin-trial-minneapolis/
This is what I posted on “Meaning in History” Blog Post. Basically it echoes what is said above. I am with DNW “let the blue cities burn”. The end result of voting for woke activist leaders. As I have said before to people. “Remember…you voted for this.”
https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-upcoming-show-trial.html
If there is a somewhat competent jury there will be an acquittal. The Daily Mail was leaked the full police body cam video where George Floyd said he was dying BEFORE the neck restraint was applied. You can see his resistance before the restraint. Once the jury is exposed to that plus the fact it was acceptable departmental policy I believe the most probable verdict would be manslaughter.
This is like the Rodney King trial where the jury was given facts that the public was not given because of the ideology of the press. The streets will explode. How the authorities will react will be interesting because Minneapolis doesn’t want to become Detroit. The metro area I reside in. And they will not be able to blame Trump.
Strap in. It is going to be an interesting summer.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8576371/Police-bodycam-footage-shows-moment-moment-arrest-George-Floyd-time.html
One idea I have heard is that Ellison deliberately overcharged because he actually *wants* an acquittal, the better to stoke more racial division afterwards. However the parade of high-powered “pro bono” attorneys he has acquired seems to belie this notion. One thing is certain – whatever Ellison wants is very bad for MN and the USA.
1) Everyone in this jury pool knows that if they do not find him guilty they will be doxxed and have their lives ruined – and probably before they reach any decision, just to make sure they know what their duty is.
There were six people on the Zimmerman jury and 23 people on the grand jury that pondered the Michael Brown / Darren Wilson encounter. Which of them have been doxxed and seen their lives ruined?
From what I know Darren Wilson has been in hiding since his trial. I believe he has changed his name.
Last I heard, he and his wife were living in suburban St. Louis and he was working retail.
Art Deco:
The Zimmerman case was somewhat before cancel culture and doxxing got going to the extent it is used now. However, there was this from one of the Zimmerman jurors, about receiving death threats and the like. During the trial they were kept incommunicado, of course, so I doubt any juror could get them during the trial. The atmosphere is generally so much more threatening and vicious these days, though.
“Both sides” in the Zimmerman trial reported threats during the jury selection process (see this, but for the most part the jurors’ identities were successfully kept secret. I don’t know if that would be successful in Minneapolis these days.
In the Michael Brown case, it was a grand jury, which is ordinarily kept extremely secret. The jurors there were successfully protected from the disclosure of the identities, as far as I know.
As big as the Zimmerman and Brown stories were, the Floyd story has been much bigger. And leaks and doxxing are more advanced these days. It’s possible the Chauvin jurors will also be successfully shielded, but I really wonder.
Neo. I expect the authorities will make certain the jurors know they’ll be exposed.
considering that the atty general of minnesota ‘ike turner’ I mean keith ellison, is all in on the black bloc, that’s almost assured, nearly nine years after zimmerman was acquitted he is still an unperson, he could not challenge the libel that nbc and the new york time, did to him because they made him a ‘public person’
“Neo. I expect the authorities will make certain the jurors know they’ll be exposed.”
I’m wondering if there is a tactical advantage for one side or the other in ensuring the potential jurors know they are risking assault, arson, or…
If enough potential jurors freak out in voir dire, what happens?
Sonny. On reflection, given the summer’s happenings and the toxic atmosphere, I can’t imagine the jurors trusting even the most emphatic promises of anonymity and safety.
Even if every party to the trial promises….there’s bound to be one person who is in for the kill.
What were they thinking when they (heh… “they”) decided on Minneapolis as the trial locale? On second thought, don’t answer that. They should have transferred it to Guam or something, but that’s hardly news.
I feel sorry for Mr. Chauvin (is he still technically an officer?). I even wonder if he might be considering or have considered offering himself up as some kind of sacrifice just to make whatever pain he’s feeling go away – the mob putting him out of his misery. Of course it would be understandable for someone in his situation to have thought of suicide, however briefly, as an alternative escape, but I hope for his sake that that kind of thinking has run its course and departed from him.
What I mean is a little different. Not that I really think it would help if he were to be thrown to the all-too-real non-metaphorical wolves, even at his own request. It would be like a scene from the French Revolution. In any case, however this turns out, I am worried for him.