Chauvin lawyer asks for new trial

The lawyer for the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd filed a motion on Tuesday asking for a new trial on multiple grounds, including jury misconduct.

The lawyer, Eric Nelson, said that his client, Derek Chauvin, did not receive a fair trial for several reasons, including the judge’s failure to sequester the jury during the trial, to change the location of the proceedings or to grant a new trial because of publicity that included intimidating the defense’s expert witnesses. Nelson also wrote “that the jury committed misconduct, felt threatened or intimidated, felt racebased pressure during the proceedings, and/ or failed to adhere to instructions during deliberations.”

There were no detailed arguments provided in the motion, which was expected and is a common step following a criminal conviction. It remains to be seen how effective any of the arguments will be because courts have set a high bar for overturning jury verdicts.

The motion was filed as one of the jurors came under scrutiny — mostly from conservative commentators online — for a photo from last year that showed him attending the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Before the trial, all potential jurors were required to fill out a questionnaire that asked whether they or anyone close to them had “participated in protests about police use of force or police brutality.”

Brandon Mitchell, the only juror to speak publicly after convicting Chauvin, told The Star Tribune, a Minneapolis newspaper, this week that he had answered no to the question. Some conservatives have seized on the revelation as a possible reason that the verdict might be overturned, but legal experts said it was highly unlikely that Chauvin would win an appeal on that issue.