New charges in George Floyd's death: Derek Chauvin faces second-degree murder; 3 other officers charged https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...eath-charges-derek-chauvin-police/3134766001/ Charges moved from Murder 3 to Murder 2 and the other 3 charged with aiding and abetting Murder 2. Here is 2d degree in MINN: 609.19 MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE. § Subdivision 1.Intentional murder; drive-by shootings. Whoever does either of the following is guilty of murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years: (1) causes the death of a human being with intent to effect the death of that person or another, but without premeditation; or (2) causes the death of a human being while committing or attempting to commit a drive-by shooting in violation of section 609.66, subdivision 1e, under circumstances other than those described in section 609.185, paragraph (a), clause (3). § Subd. 2.Unintentional murders. Whoever does either of the following is guilty of unintentional murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years: (1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting; THIS IS FOR DISCUSSION OF THE CRIMINAL ASPECT ONLY I think the DA is making a mistake reaching for the higher charge of murder in Murder 2 which calls for INTENT to cause death or without intent during felony offense. I could write a long list of ways the defense could defeat those charges since INTENT is hard to prove in this case. Could be a case of DA over reaching in a highly visable case and could lead to a bad trial result.
Murder 3 in MINN is: A depraved heart or mind murder, which places others in eminent danger of death and disregarding human life (such as shooting a gun into a crowd for fun, but not intending to kill anyone). I think kneeling on someone's neck for 8 minutes falls easily under Murder 3. Murder 2 is a stretch in this case and I can play devil's advocate and show how defense attorney will fight that charge. That means that since Murder 2 has higher prison sentence, a defense attorney is guaranteed to want to take this to trial or fight the higher charge.
MINN DA may be over reaching here and setting up a difficult trial and disappointed people across the U.S. I predict some bad results coming...
I wonder if this will make cops second guess restraint now? I wonder if this would've been possible w/o the property damage all over the country and spooked investors?
I am researching to see if they can bring both charges or only bring the one best charge. It certainly will increase the pressure for the cops to plead to Murder 3 but police have a really good attorney he may say they can beat a Murder 2 and force the DA to plead down.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might think the second degree murder charge is intended to force an acquittal in a trial. Who would possibly benefit from the chaos that would absolutely follow an acquittal? But I'm hoping this is not true. And surely Derek Chauvin would not last long if put in the general prison population. So his ultimate fate would be the same regardless of the sentence if he serves any time.
My view was presented in the "I can't breathe thread" earlier today, about 15 threads down. Which stays with my view from the other day. The prosecutor has made a smart move. As I said the other day Minn law lets the judge instruct the jury that they can convict on a lower charge if needed. At least that is what I saw generally, unless there is a specific carve-out for homicide which I doubt.
They had worked together so there will be a lot of scrutiny on personal animosity motivating this. He knew he was killing him continuing the pressure past unconsciousness. It will probably be something personal. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...who-kneeled-his-neck-had-worked-same-n1217976