AG Keith Ellison: -Filed amended complaint that charges Derek Chauvin with murder in the 2nd degree; evidence supports stronger charge -Arrest warrants issued for J.A. Keung, Thomas Lane & Tou Thao -Aiding & abetting murder in the 2nd degree, felony offense -Ask for continued patience; can't say much publicly; if you have evidence, come forward -Investigation ongoing; following the evidence where ever it leads; investigating thoroughly but it takes time; trying this case won't be easy -This is going to take months; better to make sure we have a solid case, fully investigated, researched before we go to trial than to rush it. It will take awhile. -1 officer is in custody; other two expected this afternoon -See no reason why we can't get a fair trial here
Very interesting article and police unions definitely seem to have too much power these days. Also, the guy leading the Minneapolis police union, Kroll, keeps coming off as someone that probably shouldn't be a police officer, much less being in a position of leadership.
This link @gifford1967 posted has a chockful of info https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1180655701271732224.html 5) Police Union Contracts. Every 4-6 years your police dept’s accountability system is re-negotiated. Purging misconduct records, reinstating fired officers, dept funding- it’s in the contract. Cities with worse contracts have higher police violence rates. I don't have the direct link but one city dumped the contract and rebuilt a department from ground up, saying how it was easier to implement desired change in 3 years than it did over 30. P.S. Unions are busted, but I still support higher salaries for LE and also the tools they need to succeed what the public is constantly demanding. It's just those interests don't always coincide with the unions.
I gotta agree with you on that it will be so much worse a lot more unnecessary injuries and maybe even deaths behind this mess.
The charge against LEO Noor in the shooting of Justine Ruscyck was a 3rd degree murder. That is the only successful conviction in the state of an LEO killing a civilian. This case though is pretty different. Noor fired into the dark when he was startled by Ruscyck while Chauvin was well aware that he was holding Floyd down and knew that the technique causes extreme pain and stress in the person it is on. If it didn't it wouldn't be effective as a restraint compliance technique. MN's 2nd degree murder statute says this: "(1) causes the death of a human being with intent to effect the death of that person or another, but without premeditation" It is difficult to determine if Chauvin intended Floyd's death but given that Floyd became unresponsive and he kept it on certainly shows that he was aware that Floyd's condition was very bad but he kept it on. The statute also says. " Whoever does either of the following is guilty of unintentional murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years: (1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting;" This is the key that even though Chauvin didn't intend to kill Floyd this was in the process of felony assault. Here we need to consider whether the Chauvin's actions were reasonable in regard to self-defense or just for compliance. Given that Floyd was already handcuffed, face down with not just Chauvin on him but two other LEO that Floyd wasn't a threat in any reasonable way but Chauvin continued using force. Whatever was in Chauvin's mind might not matter as long as his actions constitute assault.
I think that charging the other officers when Derek Chauvin was charged with 3rd degree murder, which doesn't appear much different than manslaughter (but I'm not an attorney), would be problematic. The 2nd degree charge is both deserved and more easily allows charging the other officers involved. That's strictly my opinion.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6935793-Chauvin-Amended-Criminal-Complaint.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6935804-Thomas-Lane-Complaint.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6935805-J-Alexander-Kueng-Complaint.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6935803-Tou-Thao-Complaint.html Chauvin: Count I Charge: Second Degree Murder - Unintentional - While Committing A Felony Count II Charge: Third Degree Murder - Perpetrating Eminently Dangerous Act and Evincing Depraved Mind Count III Charge: Second Degree Manslaughter - Culpable Negligence Creating Unreasonable Risk $1,000,000 bail Keung, Lane & Thao: Count I Charge: Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Murder - Unintentional - While Committing A Felony Count II Charge: Aiding and Abetting Second Degree Manslaughter - Culpable Negligence Creating Unreasonable Risk $1,000,000 bail
Maybe they will. Please forgive me if I don't have a lot of faith in Bill Barr's Justice Department pursuing civil rights charges though. In any case, as useful as it may be to have feds willing to prosecute abuses of office, there isn't a good reason I can think of that a state should refrain from doing so. If a cop betrays the faith my state entrusted to him in deputizing him, I want my state to address it.
Third degree is an automatically included charge with second degree... Here is my son's YouTube analysis...i haven't watched it yet.
A lot of this will depend on where the trial is actually held. Obviously the MPD will try and get it moved from Minneapolis proper but the key will be which suburb ends up taking the case if they can't have the trial in Minneapolis. Yup, he's beyond awful. The former chief of police leaked Kroll's letter to the MPD about George Floyd leaked and in it Kroll had the audacity to blame Floyd for all of this (saying that the media wasn't reporting on his "violent history."). With Kroll, its always an us vs. them game. When Jamar Clark was killed, Kroll basically had officers stop enforcing laws for a week in order to artificially increase rates of crime to justify police brutality. In Kroll's mind, you can either have racist policing or chaos. And he goes out of his way to create chaos as an excuse for his behavior.
