MINNEAPOLIS, KOMPAS.com – Derek Chauvin, a former cop who became a killer George Floyd, obtained another murder charge.
Chauvin will get a third -degree murder charge, along with second -degree murder and manslaughter.
Although Chauvin’s attorney tried to intervene, in the end the appeals court granted the prosecutor’s request.
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Because of that request, the trial which was supposed to be held on Monday (8/3/2021) with an agenda for jury selection had to be postponed.
Derek Chauvin was tried over George Floyd’s death in May 2020, which aroused outrage around the world.
Floyd, previously arrested on charges of using counterfeit money, died after being crushed by Chauvin in the neck for more than seven minutes.
Reported Sky News Thursday (11/3/2021), the charges for murder in third degree were considered less severe than level two.
Level three refers to the accusation that the perpetrator killed the victim accidentally, while level two requires further evidence extracting.
Law experts explain, granting a level three indictment makes Chauvin’s chances of being convicted as a murderer greater.
Also read: Ahead of the George Floyd killer Derek Chauvin trial, residents come with a coffin
This is because the burden of proving the accusations is relatively light, with a prison sentence that is no less lengthy than second degree.
In order to enforce a level three indictment, the prosecutor has sufficiently proven that Derek Chauvin’s actions are extremely dangerous, with a sentence of 25 years in prison.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill previously rejected the third-degree charge because the sentence read “dangerous to others”.
In Judge Cahill’s view, what Chauvin did had an impact on Floyd, not on anyone else so that his indictment was deemed inappropriate.
However, prosecutors pointed to the Minnesota Court of Appeal which reactivated third-degree charges in the Minnespolis police case of murdering an Australian woman.
“I feel bound by that and I feel like it would be an abuse of discretion if I didn’t grant it,” said Judge Cahill.
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