WORLD BULLETINS

Chauvin attorney seeks new trial

THE defence attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd has requested a new trial, according to a court document filed on Tuesday.

Derek Chauvin was convicted last month of second-degree unintentional murder, thirddegree murder and seconddegree manslaughter in the death of Floyd on May 25, 2020.

Evidence at trial showed Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for 9½ minutes as the black man said he could not breathe and went motionless.

Defence attorney Eric Nelson cited many reasons in his request for a new trial. He said Judge

Peter Cahill abused the discretion of the court and violated Chauvin’s right to due process and a fair trial when he denied Mr Nelson’s request to move the trial to another location due to pre-trial publicity. He also said Mr Cahill abused his discretion when he denied an earlier request for a new trial based on publicity during the proceedings, which Mr Nelson said threatened the fairness of the trial.

Mr Nelson also took issue with Mr Cahill’s refusal to sequester the jury for the trial or admonish them to avoid all media. He asked the judge to impeach the verdict on the grounds that the jury committed misconduct, and felt pressured.