Derek Chauvin
Derek Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, filed a motion on Tuesday for a new trial, alleging jury misconduct.
On April 20, a jury reached a verdict in the murder trial of former Minneapolis cop Dereck Chauvin in George Floyd’s death.
Chauvin was found guilty on all counts: 2nd degree murder, 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter.
Nelson’s filing said the court failed to sequester the jurors or “admonish them to avoid all media.”
“The publicity here was so pervasive and so prejudicial before and during this trial that it amounted to a structural defect in the proceedings,” Nelson wrote.
In his motion, Nelson alleges eight total abuses of discretion by the court, including “the interests of justice; abuse of discretion that deprived the Defendant of a fair trial; prosecutorial and jury misconduct; errors of law at trial; and a verdict that is contrary to law.” – NBC News reported.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin filed an appeal for a new trial Tuesday after he was convicted last month of murdering George Floyd.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, filed the request alleging that pretrial publicity affected Chauvin’s right to a fair trial.
Nelson’s filing also accuses Minnesota state prosecutors of committing “pervasive, prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct” that also affected Chauvin’s right to receive a fair trial.
The filing also requested an order “to impeach the verdict” on “the grounds that the jury committed misconduct, felt threatened or intimidated, felt race-based pressure during the proceedings, and/or failed to adhere to instructions during deliberations.”
A juror in the Derek Chauvin trial hid that he was a Black Lives Matter activist to convince the judge that he was “impartial.”
Juror #52, now identified as Brandon Mitchell, is also encouraging people to try to get on juries to “spark some change.”
During jury selection, Mitchell claimed that he had very little knowledge of the case. However, Mitchell was photographed last August wearing a shirt that read “Get your knee off our necks” and “BLM.”
In an interview with Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell on April 27, the juror asserted that people need to get on juries to “spark some change,” the Post Millennial reports.
“I mean it’s important if we wanna see some change, we wanna see some things going different, we gotta into these avenues, get into these rooms to try to spark some change,” he said. “Jury duty is one of those things. Jury duty. Voting. All of those things we gotta do.”
