Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin has filed an appeal on Friday against his sentence to 22 years and six months in prison for the death of African-American citizen George Floyd, who died in detention after the officer knelt on his neck during several minutes despite the man telling her she couldn’t breathe.
The appeal, filed at the last minute, states that he does not have funds or legal representation for this process and that the prosecutors incurred “malpractice” and “prejudice” during the proceedings against him, while criticizing that they were not accepted ” evidence relating to the use of force “.
It also criticizes that the court did not allow the defense to withdraw “members of the jury with a clear bias during the selection process” and its decision to “reduce” the admission of evidence about a Floyd arrest in 2019, as has picked up the American television network CBS.
The twelve members of the popular jury indicated in April that Chauvin – for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requested a sentence of 30 years in prison – was guilty of involuntary murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and murder in the second degree for the death from Floyd in May 2020.
By not having a record, Chauvin avoided the possibility of facing prison terms of up to 40 years for involuntary second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder, and up to 10 years for second-degree murder.
Floyd was arrested in May 2020 in Minneapolis outside an establishment for having used a counterfeit bill to pay for a pack of cigarettes. During the operation, he was handcuffed and placed on the ground on his chest, after which Chauvin dug his knee into his neck for more than nine minutes, ultimately causing his death.
Floyd’s death, which was videotaped by passers-by who were at the scene, generated a wave of indignation globally, with mobilizations and marches that sometimes led to riots, and once again put the racism of the institutions on the table. Americans.
