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Nearly eighteen months after Derek Chauvin was sentenced to decades in prison for the murder of George Floyd, his attorney has appealed the sentence and asked the Minnesota court to overturn the murder convictions.
On Wednesday, January 18, Chauvin’s attorney appealed to dismiss the convictions in the infamous murder case, stating that the former Minneapolis police officer was not provided with a fair trial.
The appeal has sparked online outrage, with many saying that Chauvin deserves to spend his life behind bars. Popular content creator Harry Sisson echoed the sentiment harbored by many Twitter users, saying that there was "nothing to appeal" as the world witnessed the horrific video that captured the accused pinning down the victim with his knee on the latter's neck.
Twitter reacts angrily as Derek Chauvin appeals to overturn his murder convictions
In 2021, Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, death of Floyd.
A year after the first conviction, Chauvin was again sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for violating George Floyd's civil rights. Floyd, a black man, was killed after Chauvin, a white police officer, pinned him to the ground and held him down with a knee on his neck.
Chauvin is seeking to revoke the first convictions as he claims that the publicity and the pressure of a high-profile trial swayed the judge and jurors to provide a harsher sentence. However, the appeal has spread discontent among people online as they believe that Chauvin should repent for the crime.
Details of the appeal explored
In the appeal, Derek Chauvin’s attorney argued that the trial should have been moved out of state as the pervasive pretrial publicity of the case biased the jurors into unfairly convicting the police officer. Minnesota Court of Appeals lawyer William Mohrman stated:
"Our primary argument here is that this case could not be tried in Minneapolis because of the pretrial publicity which was pervasive ... and also just the physical pressure on the courthouse."
In a rebuttal to the arguments made by Derek Chauvin’s attorney, former Acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal, representing the state of Minnesota, defended Chauvin’s trial. As per NPR, Katyal said the accused was provided with one of the most “transparent” and “thorough” proceedings, adding that the police officer was convicted based on the incriminating video that captured the death of Floyd.
As per NPR, the court will reportedly provide a ruling on the appeal 90 days after the hearing.
