From National Review:
New Floyd Murder Charges Will Be Tough to Prove and May Imperil Good Cops
Prosecutors in Minnesota have filed an amended complaint against Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd, adding a second-degree “felony murder” charge. This dangerously flawed theory could be used to portray any police restraint of a resistant suspect as criminal assault.
The amended complaint against Chauvin also re-alleges the two homicide charges originally filed last week: third-degree “depraved indifference” murder and second-degree manslaughter, both of which better fit the facts of the case while posing no risk of criminalizing the legitimate use of force by good cops.
Separately, the other three fired Minneapolis police officers involved in the killing have been charged, after a week of demands by the Floyd family, as well as intense anti-police rhetoric (and worse) by Black Lives Matter activists and protesters.
Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder (the new charge against Chauvin) and manslaughter. Weirdly, under the circumstances, the three are not charged with the “depraved indifference” murder count; nor are they accused of committing manslaughter as principals — they are charged only as aiders and abettors, a theory that does not jibe with a negligence charge such as second-degree manslaughter (which is negligent homicide under Minnesota law).
Some more - talking about the new charge compared to the old one:
In the latter, prosecutors would concede that it was lawful in principle for the police to subdue Floyd, but argue (correctly) that their manner of doing so was recklessly indifferent to human life, causing his death. By contrast, the new “felony murder” count, spearheaded by Keith Ellison, the radical leftist state attorney general, puts police on notice that they can be charged with a crime — felony assault — for doing their job, which routinely involves physically restraining suspects who resist lawful commands.
My concern is that Ellison is ratcheting up the charge way past what the actual crime was and that in a jury trial, the only verdict would be acquittal for Chauvet. He did not intend to murder Floyd, it was a horrible accident. Chauvet was not observing the situation well enough and the man in his custody died as a result. The autopsy already clears the way for that verdict. Floyd died from a heart attack, he had major drugs in his system.
Ellison will come back and say that black men can never get justice in Amerikka and if we think the riots are bad now, hold my beer. The Democrats are doing everything they can to prevent President Trump from being re-elected. They have no candidate, they have no platform, they have nothing so they must cheat.
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