Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck on Memorial Day, wants the murder and manslaughter charges thrown out.
Chauvin continues to languish in a Hennepin County, Minnesota, jail awaiting trial on third-degree murder, second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges, according to USA Today.
The horrific video of Chauvin suffocating Floyd to death by driving his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds incited a nationwide — and international — uprising that continues to this day. It also sparked widespread calls for radical reforms in police departments across the country.
However, the sociopolitical wave that swept over America has since subsided somewhat. And now Chauvin is asking the judge in his case to dismiss the charges. His attorneys stated in pre-trial motions that there is no probable cause to support the murder and manslaughter charges, CNN reports.
Hennepin County prosecutors countered by saying that “Mr. Floyd was treated with particular cruelty,” according to the documents obtained by USA Today.
“Despite Mr. Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe and was going to die, as well as the pleas of eyewitnesses to get off Mr. Floyd and help him, defendant and his codefendants continued to restrain Mr. Floyd.”
The legal documents state that Chauvin’s attorneys also call for the removal of the Hennepin County prosecutors, citing “an inappropriate pretrial publicity campaign,” according to USA Today.
Three other officers on the scene at the time of Floyd’s death were identified as J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. They face second-degree aiding and abetting and second-degree manslaughter charges. They were terminated almost immediately along with Chauvin after the video went viral.
