*this post initially went live as a bonus podcast episode and you can listen to it HERE or simply read the text below.
For this first episode, we are going to breakdown the exact charges against Derek Chauvin, the man who killed George Floyd. Why? Well let me explain a little bit.
I know there is a tendency in media to focus on the criminal of the story, not the victim. That said, I wanted to take a deeper look at Derek Chauvin’s charges BECAUSE his trial WILL come. And when it does, I want to make sure you guys know exactly what he is charged with and understand, legally, what each charge means. This will make following his trial a LOT easier to understand. Because it’s important we follow his trial to ensure he is held accountable for what he did. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
So I think Derek Chauvin’s charges have been really glossed over and over-simplified by mainstream media and everyone keeps saying he’s charged of 2nd degree murder. And that’s not exactly true. There are three charges he faces and ONE of them is called “2nd degree UN-INTENTIONAL murder.” And there is a distinction there both symbolically AND legally.
It’s super confusing for those of us without a legal background but even for those who have one, each state’s exact laws differ and the charges he faces are important to understand so that as the trial proceeds, we can keep up with the legal arguments being made for and against his conviction and understand the verdict/ punishments set forth.
So. Who was Derek Chauvin before he committed this act?
He is a 44 year old man. He spent 19 years of his life on the police force which puts him starting his policing career at about 25. The man had at LEAST 17 investigations into him and 12 complaints. Despite the NUMEROUS complaints, Chauvin was only disciplined once. He has shot AT three different people during his time on the force, once killing the person, once injuring the person, and once missing the person (who was running AWAY from the scene by the way) according to People Magazine.
On the homefront, Chauvin’s wife is now actually in the process of divorcing him and changing her last name… She became legally separated from her husband on May 28th 2020, a day before he was arrested for the May 25th murder of George Floyd. There were financial issues at home as well… Apparently he came into the marriage with a lot of debt. His wife has children from a previous relationship but she and Chauvin never had kids.
So that’s an overview of Chauvin’s adult life. But there’s a really important part of his life that hasn’t gotten a ton of attention yet.
Derek Chauvin DID know George Floyd prior to killing him. The two had both worked at a Minnesota nightclub for 17 YEARS as security, according to People Magazine. David Pinney, a man who claimed to have worked with both George Floyd and Derek Chauvin at the same nightclub claims they quote un quote “bumped heads.” When pressed as to why, Pinney said QUOTE “it had a lot to do with Derek being extremely aggressive within the club and with some of the patrons.” END QUOTE
This suggests it’s possible that this act of violence was personal.
The nightclub OWNER who employed both men, Maya Santamaria, was asked by a CBS interviewer QUOTE “Do you think Derek had a problem with black people?”
To which she replied, QUOTE “I think he was afraid and intimidated.”
“By black people?” The CBS interview asked.
“Yeah.” Responded Maya.
Yikes. This is not a good look going into his trial.
So that is a little background on who Derek Chauvin is. With all of that in mind, let’s dive into what Derek Chauvin is actually charged with, what each of the three charges means, and what type of sentences he might be looking at. I went ahead and reached out to a criminal lawyer IN MINNESOTA specifically. The law is different in every state, so I wanted to be SURE I understood these charges to relay them best to you guys. Of course, my best practice leads me to tell you guys what EXACTLY the law says, so you guys can draw YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. So we will now dive into each charge and the exact legal language.
Remember, Derek Chauvin has three different charges:
- The most serious charge is Second degree “unintentional” murder (that is an important distinction, easier to prove)
QUOTE “Unintentional murders. 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; or
(2) causes the death of a human being without intent to effect the death of any person, while intentionally inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily harm upon the victim, when the perpetrator is restrained under an order for protection and the victim is a person designated to receive protection under the order. As used in this clause, “order for protection” includes an order for protection issued under chapter 518B; a harassment restraining order issued undersection 609.748; a court ordersetting conditions of pretrial release or conditions of a criminal sentence or juvenile court disposition; a restraining order issued in a marriage dissolution action; and any order issued by a court of another state or of the United States that is similar to any of these
orders.” END QUOTE
2. The second most serious charge is Third degree murder
QUOTE (a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.
(b) Whoever, without intent to cause death, proximately causes the death of a human being by, directly or indirectly, unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing, or administering a controlled substance classified in Schedule I or II, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $40,000, or both.
3. His lightest charge is Second Degree Manslaughter
QUOTE “A person who causes the death of another by any of the following means is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both:
(1) by the person’s culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another;”
END QUOTE.
There are 4 other ways you can commit manslaughter but they all involve guns, animals, or children – none of these other four would be applicable to what Derek Chauvin did. You can read those if you want to online at the State of Minnesota’s Office of the Revisor website. They keep track of all the legal language for the state.
So after learning all of this, I had a few questions. And I turned to legal council to get answers. They all had pretty simple explanations too. Here’s what I was curious about:
So why does he have more than one charge?
So Prosecuting lawyers will typically charge with AS MANY different crimes as the facts support. Why? Because they’re covering their bases that way. Maybe they THINK they can get 2nd degree murder, but why not throw in a few lesser charges and let the jury make up their mind. Additionally, they only get ONE shot at this. They cannot come back and charge him with lesser things – that’s called Double Jeopardy – you can’t charge someone with the same crime twice in this country so the prosecutor gets ONE chance to charge them with everything and do their best.
What type of jail sentence is he looking at? With all charges considered?
So even IF Chauvin is found guilty of multiple things, stemming from this one incident, he will just get one sentence from the judge.
Who were his co-conspirators and what are their exact charges?
So all three of the other officers at the scene that day had their hands physically on George Floyd as he was dying. So it definitely looks as though they were involved and likely carry both practical and legal fault in his death, based on the autopsy reports. They were all three charged with “aiding and abetting murder.”
So why is it significant that this charge is “unintentional”?
Basically, because with 8 minutes to get off of George’s neck, George repeatedly expressing that he could not breathe, AND the fact that these two men knew each other and had reportedly “butt heads” in the past, according to someone who worked with them, it’s hard to see how this death was “unintentional.” But that said, aside from the unintentional part, if we assume he was just trying to HURT George and not KILL him, the second degree charge seems pretty spot on for what he did. We will have to wait and see how this case unfolds and of course, we will keep you up today with our weekday News Du Jour episodes.
As of now, Chauvin’s bail was set at $1.25 million dollars and he currently still sits behind bars, awaiting his trial.