George Floyd killer Derek Chauvin asks for new trial

The white former Minneapolis police officer convicted last month of the murder of the black man George Floyd has requested a new trial.

Derek Chauvin's legal team have filed court documents alleging misconduct by both prosecutors and jurors.

Chauvin, who was captured on video kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, was found guilty of murder and manslaughter.

His lawyer says his client was deprived of a fair trial.

The rare verdict against a police officer was considered a milestone in the racial history of the US and was widely applauded by Americans. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison.

He will be sentenced next month.

The murder that drove America to the brink
'This is monumental. This is historic'
Five key moments from the trial
What is Chauvin's legal team arguing?
US media report that the request for a new trial was expected and is a common move following a conviction.

The New York Times quoted experts as saying it was unlikely that the jury's decision would be overturned because of the evidence in the case.

In court documents Eric Nelson argues that the process was not impartial because of pre-trial publicity.

He writes that it was "so pervasive and so prejudicial" before and during the trial, that it amounted to a "structural defect in the proceedings".

The motion also alleges that errors were made by the judge and that there was prosecutorial misconduct and witness intimidation.

What is the controversy about the juror?
Supporters of Chauvin have pointed to juror Brandon Mitchell, who was pictured last August at an event in Washington held on the 57th anniversary of the civil rights movement's historic March on Washington.

The event included a Get Your Knee Off Our Necks protest at which speakers including Martin Luther King's son demanded racial equality. Mr Mitchell was pictured wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Get your knee off our necks" and "BLM", referring to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Jurors in the Chauvin case were asked before the trial whether they or people they knew well had "participated in protests about police use of force or police brutality".

Mr Mitchell - the only juror in the trial to give media interviews - says he answered no to that question.

He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he had attended the event to commemorate the civil rights movement and had not seen it as an anti-police brutality protest.

"The opportunity to be around thousands and thousands of black people, I just thought it was a good opportunity to be a part of something," he said.

Before the trial, during questioning by Chauvin's defence team, Mr Mitchell said that he saw Black Lives Matter as a statement that he supported.

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How did the trial unfold?
The 12-member jury took less than a day to declare Chauvin guilty following a highly charged, three-week trial in which 45 witnesses took the stand and several hours of video footage were shown.

Several witnesses broke down in tears as they watched graphic footage of Mr Floyd's death and described feeling "helpless" as events unfolded.

Expert witnesses on behalf of the state testified that Mr Floyd died from a lack of oxygen due to the manner of restraint employed by Chauvin and his colleagues.

Chauvin himself chose not to testify, invoking his right to not incriminate himself with his responses.

What happened to George Floyd?
The 46-year-old bought a pack of cigarettes at a convenience store in May 2020. A shop assistant believed he had used a counterfeit note and called the police after Mr Floyd refused to give the cigarettes back.

When police arrived, they ordered Mr Floyd out of his parked car and handcuffed him. A struggle ensued when officers tried to put a screaming Mr Floyd in their squad car. They wrestled him to the ground and pinned him under their weight.

Chauvin pressed his knee into the back of Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.

As he was being restrained, Mr Floyd said more than 20 times that he could not breathe, pleading for his mother and begging "please, please, please".

When the ambulance arrived, Mr Floyd was motionless. He was pronounced dead about an hour later.

People here waited anxiously for weeks and months, first, as the trial unfolded, and then during the final, nerve-wracking hours, while the jury deliberated. The stakes of the trial were extraordinarily high, and people are relieved, and also trying to process the tumultuous events.

It is a landmark case for police violence against black people, and the verdict marks a significant victory for the activists who have pushed for policing reform: Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.

The jury's decision means police will now be under increased scrutiny, say legal experts, and are more likely to be prosecuted, and convicted, for wrongdoing. The verdict could usher in a kind of policing, say analysts, with more accountability for officers, as well as new policies for the use of force. And for many, the trial was a sign that the system works.

"It shows that police officers are not above the law," says Jack Rice, a lawyer in the twin cities, Minneapolis and St Paul. "It will impact future cases that come before the court. What is even more important, however, is that it will impact the behaviour of officers when they are performing on the street. It's beyond the criminal case - it's about what the officers do on a daily basis."

US jury finds ex-officer guilty of Floyd murder
'This is monumental. This is historic'
News of the monumental verdict travelled fast. Activist Rosa Gomez, 19, was in her college dorm, and Erika Atson, 20, also an activist, was at home, when it was announced.

Says Atson: "I'm happy. Just super happy."

Gomez agrees: "A huge relief."

The reaction of Rich Stanek, a former sheriff of Hennepin County, the place where the trial was convened, and his colleagues was different.

He was at a conference of law enforcement officials in Idaho, and was not surprised by the verdict. Among he and his friends, though, there was no celebrating: "People were sombre."

Activists were elated, others reserved. But for all, it was the end of a journey, the conclusion of a trial that had riveted them, and people around the world, and held them in its grip.

Floyd's death outside of a store, Cup Foods, in May 2020 had set off massive protests and looting. Then, the sensational trial convened, and became the most closely watched one in decades.

Of the dozens of people whom I spoke with here in town, during the weeks the trial unfolded, nearly all agreed that their city had been transformed by the experience. They differed greatly, though, in their views of what the change meant, and whether it was good or bad.

The police chief of Minneapolis and other officers testified against Chauvin. Yet many people who have worked in law enforcement sympathised with him. Ordinary people cannot understand what it is like to make an arrest, they told me, when things can spin out of control.

Others saw Chauvin, and the issues surrounding policing, in a different light. They told me that officers here are rarely held accountable. When these activists and their friends heard the verdict, they were stunned.

"He's going to jail," called out one woman in a black sweatshirt, in a sing-song voice, as she jumped up and down outside the building where the verdict was read.

It was a moment of jubilation, as people slammed on horns, jumped on roofs of their cars, and waved hats in the air, a "celebratory protest", says one.

The activists were happy about the verdict, but also demanded justice in other cases. "You know, we don't stop here. We have to do the same for all the cops who are murdering people," says activist Erika Atson. "This is a good win, but we're not done winning."

She and other protesters felt vindicated. Ordinary people were just relieved the trial was over. Yet they all wondered what would happen next.

The city was like a village in a snow globe that had been shaken, with snow swirling, and then, finally, it looks peaceful. On Tuesday, the snow settled, for the moment.

Rich Stanek walked the streets of Minneapolis as an officer, and as county sheriff. Yet after Floyd's death, and the protests that followed, Stanek did not recognise his city. He recalls driving down Lake Street, and seeing rubble. Hundreds of buildings around town had been wrecked, $350m (£250m) in losses, according to officials.

Protesters such as Erika Atson and Rosa Gomez also felt disoriented. The place they, too, had known their whole lives was suddenly a battle zone, with activists and police facing off.

I first saw Gomez, with a 35mm camera slung around her neck, outside the building where the trial was taking place. Later, she told me about her hometown, Minneapolis, a city known for its liberalism, lakes and northern climate. A place with chilly weather and personal warmth, a study in contrasts.

People associate racism with southern US cities, says Gomez, and their history of slavery, not northern cities such as Minneapolis. The trial laid bare the bigotry here, she says, some of which she has experienced.

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Her father, a custodian, immigrated from Honduras, and she describes herself as a person of colour, as well as queer and non-binary.

She followed the trial and listened sceptically as defence lawyer Eric Nelson described Chauvin's actions, arguing they were justified.

On that day of the trial, Jerry Obieglo, who works in veterans' services, was also watching, picking up bits at the office, and catching up at home. As it happened, he had been Chauvin's boss back in the 1990s in the military.

"A quiet guy," he remembers. Obieglo was shocked to recognise him in the video, pinning Floyd to the ground.

Obieglo followed the trial on YouTube, and tried to avoid cable news, saying they were biased. Fox focused on the defence, while CNN gave air time to the prosecutors. Obieglo says Fox's coverage of the trial was better than the liberal-leaning outlets, explaining: "Fox wasn't blowing Floyd up to be an angel."

Obieglo says Chauvin used poor judgement. Still, Obieglo thinks the jurors went too far, finding him guilty on all three counts, rather than just on manslaughter. He blames the sensationalised coverage, and the protests, for the decision. He believes the jurors felt pressured, and acted out of fear: "I guess they want to make sure their houses don't get burned down tonight."