Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will face an additional charge of third-degree murder, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled on Thursday, after an appeals court ordered Cahill to reconsider his earlier decision to dismiss the charge.
The ruling came as a third day of jury selection was set to begin in the trial over the killing of George Floyd. Chauvin was already facing manslaughter and second-degree murder charges when the much-anticipated trial opened this week.
Chauvin’s defense team had sought to block the charge, but the Minnesota Supreme Court denied the request for review, in a decision that was issued Wednesday afternoon.
Read more at NPR.
{Matzav.com}
Something doesn’t make sense here. How can you be charged for three murders if only one person died? It should be up to the prosecutor to decide which type of murder he believes it was, and charge for that, not to try for whatever they can make stick. Of course, politically if he only charges for 3d-degree murder (the only charge that might stick), there would be an public uproar. But it doesn’t seem right to me that they can do this.
I do not, by-the-way, have any viable opinions on the guilt or innocence of the police officer(s). I have no idea, since I only know what the newspeople are saying. I just wonder about our screwed up justice system
Very good! Ex-cop Derek Chauvin, should be & must be, prosecuted to the n’th degree of the Law, for the heinous crime, he knowingly & willingly committed, while making an arrest.