3rd Degree Murder charge reinstated against Derek Chauvin In George Floyd’s Death
As the proceedings began this Thursday, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled to reinstate a third-degree murder charge for the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd.
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Cahill initially dismissed the charge last fall because he believed that the circumstances of Chauvin’s case did not fit. However, an appellate ruling in an unrelated case provided new grounds for it days before the big trial started and ordered him to reconsider.
Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes on May 25, is already charged with second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, as well as second-degree manslaughter. The third-degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, CBS News notes. According to experts, a third-degree murder charge could make it easier for prosecutors to land a conviction.
“The state must see it as a win, if they tried so hard to get it,” said Richard Frase, a criminal law professor at the University of Minnesota. “It gives them another way to get a murder conviction.”
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