Derek Chauvin Trial: Court Denies State’s Motion To Amend Sentencing Opinion          

“On July 7, 2021, the State of Minnesota made an unusual request of Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill: revise its June 25, 2021, Sentencing Memorandum Opinion regarding Derek Chauvin, but not its 22.5 year sentencing order for him. The requested change was to include the presence of children at the scene of George Floyd’s murder as an aggravating factor for sentencing.” (Emphasis added.)[1]

Only six days later, on July 13, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill denied this request or motion.[2]

The Judge first noted that the State did “not cite any statues or rules it contends vest this Court with jurisdiction over this case “ at this juncture and did not request or expect any response from Chauvin. (Pp. 1-2.) In other words, there was no legal basis for the State’s request.

Judge Cahill then made the following criticisms of the merits of the State’s request:

• It ignored the Court’s focus: Chauvin’s conduct toward George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
• The Court did not find or write in the Sentencing Memorandum Opinion that the four minor eyewitnesses were not traumatized, rather it stated that the trial evidence did not present any objective indicia of trauma.” (Emphasis by Court.)
• The State failed to exercise its right to a separate contested sentencing hearing on alleged aggravating factors.
• The State gave lower priority and less attention to the presence of children in its arguments for aggravating factors for sentencing.
• The Court was not intending “to send a message” of any kind in its sentencing.
• The Court did not make its sentencing decision on the basis of the racial or ethnic status of any of the observers at the May 25, 2020 scene of the killing of Mr. Floyd or of the three young women and nine-year-old girl observers.
• The State ignores the law that the court has to find “substantial and compelling reason” why an aggravating factor may call for an aggravated sentence, and cases so involving the presence of children are distinguishable.
• The court, in accordance with the law, imposed a 22.5 year sentence on Chauvin that was “rational and just, . . helps to promote public safety, . . . reduces sentencing disparity, . . . and is proportional to the severity of the offense and the defendant’s criminal history.

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[1] Derek Chauvin Trial: State Requests Modification of Court’s Sentencing Memorandum, dwkcommentaries.com (July 8, 2021) (emphasis added). /

[2] Oder Denying State’s Request To Modify Sentencing Order Memorandum Opinion, State v. Chauvin, Hennepin County District Court, Court File No. 27-CR-20-12646 (July 13, 2021); Olson, Chauvin judge declines state request to revise memo about young eyewitnesses to Floyd murder, StarTribune (July 13, 2021).