Causation

Stanfordville, N.Y.: There’s a concept in civil tort litigation that I imagine also applies in criminal cases: The defendant takes the plaintiff as she/he finds him/ her. So whether George Floyd had life-threatening diseases and illegal drugs in his system or a head cold and legal drugs in his system is completely irrelevant. Derek Chauvin has to answer for what he did. And he’s not entitled to any leeway because of the condition in which he found Floyd, his victim.

Marcie L. Waterman