On January 26, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill issued two orders and Chauvin’s attorney asked for a two-week extension in submission of his expert’s report.
The Court’s Orders[1]
The first order stated that (a) “evidence supporting the State’s motion for an aggravated sentence [of Derek Chauvin] will be received as part of a unitary trial, but that argument and submission of interrogatories regarding such aggravated sentence to the jury will be submitted separately after a guilty verdict, if any, is returned on any count and (b) any jury verdict in favor of the state on aggravating factors shall be following by briefing before sentencing “as to whether the facts established beyond a reasonable doubt constitute substantial and compelling circumstances justifying an aggravated durational departure from the presumptive sentence under the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.”
The second order concerned requests for admission of evidence of collateral matters:
- Denial of all defendants’ motions to admit evidence at trial of George Floyd’s May 6, 2019 arrest by the Minneapolis Police Department and his subsequent admission to HCMC and his 2017 Harris County, Texas conviction for aggravated robbery.
- Granted State’s motion in Chauvin case to admit evidence of (a) Chauvin’s June 25, 2017, incident and (b) Chauvin’s August 25, 2015 incident if there is “clear and convincing evidence that Chauvin was present when a medical professional made certain remarks.”
- Denial of State’s motion to admit evidence in Chauvin case of six other Chauvin prior incidents.
- Denial of State’s motion to admit evidence of nine prior incidents in Thao case.
- Denial of State’s motion to admit evidence of December 23-24, 2019 incident in Keung case.
Request for Delay of Chauvin’s Expert Report[2]
Chauvin submitted a motion for a two week postponement of the date for service of his final expert reports. It was supported by an affidavit by his attorney, Eric Nelson, describing additional difficulties in the State’s providing discovery and the need for two additional weeks for the defendant’s forensic pathologist to prepare his report.
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[1] Order, State v. Chauvin, Dist. Ct. file 27-CR-20-12646 (Hennepin County District Court Jan. 26, 2021); Order on Spreigl Motions, Chauvin, Dist. Ct. file 27-CR-20-12646 (Hennepin County District Court Jan. 26, 2021); Xiong, Judge bans several incidents from Chauvin’s past, Geore Floyd’s arrest and conviction, from trials, StarTribune (Jan. 26, 2021).
[2] Defendant’s Notice of Motion To Extend Deadline To Serve Final Expert Reports, State v. Chauvin, Dist. Ct. file 27-CR-20-12646 (Hennepin County District Court Jan. 26, 2021); Affidavit of Eric J. Nelson, State v. Chauvin, Dist. Ct. file 27-CR-20-12646 (Hennepin County District Court Jan. 26, 2021); Xiong, supra.
Journalist’s Report on Derek Chauvin’s Prior Incidents of Alleged Abuses
The above post reports on Judge Cahill’s order regarding trial admissibility of certain prior incidents of Chauvin’s alleged use of excessive force.
Now two New York Times’ journalists have reported on their investigation of these prior incidents. (Lartey & VanSickle, ‘Don’t Kill Me’: Others Tell of Abuse by Officer Who Knelt on George Floyd, N.Y. Times (Feb. 2, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-past-cases.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Video of Another Chauvin-Led Takedown of Black Man
Three weeks before the killing of George Floyd, Derek Chauvin led the take-down of another Black man –Adrian Drakeford–in Minneapolis. Assisting Chauvin on that earlier incident were two of the other three officers involved in the Floyd killing—J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane. Drakeford was not involved in any suspected crime and at the scene was released without charges. But one of Drakeford’s brothers made a video of that encounter, which the StarTribune has obtained, and it shows striking similarities to the later takedown of Floyd.
Mannix, Video: Weeks before pinning George Floyd, three of the same officers roughly detrained the wrong man, StarTribune (Feb. 2, 2021), https://www.startribune.com/video-weeks-before-pinning-george-floyd-three-of-the-same-officers-roughly-detained-the-wrong-man/600018251/