Derek Chauvin’s lawyers have been granted permission by a judge to study samples from George Floyd as part of the former Minneapolis police officer’s efforts to defend his conviction on a federal civil rights allegation related to Floyd’s death in 2020.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson agreed in an order Monday to allow the defense to examine Floyd’s heart tissue and fluid samples to test a theory that Floyd died of a heart condition exacerbated by a rare tumor, rather than asphyxiation caused by the white officer pressing his knee against the Black man’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes despite Floyd’s dying cries of, “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd’s killing sparked worldwide protests, some of which became violent, forcing a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Chauvin was convicted of murder in state court in 2021 and later pled guilty in federal court for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
His federal defender for his appeal, Robert Meyers, argued in his request that Chauvin’s original attorney, Eric Nelson, failed to inform his client that an outside pathologist not directly involved in the case, Dr. William Schaetzel of Topeka, Kansas, had contacted Nelson prior to Chauvin’s plea and offered an unsolicited theory that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.
Chauvin believes this amounted to “ineffective assistance counsel” and is requesting a new trial, claiming he would not have pleaded guilty if he had known about the pathologist.
However, federal prosecutors said in court filings that Nelson made a fair “tactical decision” not to pursue an unproven view “offered by someone holding himself out as an expert.
” They argued that Nelson spoke with other medical experts in preparation for Chauvin’s cases, including one who testified in state court, but that the jury rejected Chauvin’s medical argument. They also stated that the legal barriers to success on a claim of poor counsel are extremely high.
Nelson declined to comment on Tuesday.
Chauvin is serving concurrent 20-year federal civil rights and 22 1/2-year state murder sentences in a federal prison in Texas. Last year, the United States Supreme Court denied Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction.