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Date: 06-26-2021

Case Style:

State of Minnesota v. Dereck Chauvin

Case Number:

Judge: Peter Cahill

Court: District Court, Hennepin County, Minnesota

Plaintiff's Attorney: Hennepina County District Attorney's Office

Defendant's Attorney: Neal Kumar Katyal and Eric J. Halberg

Description: Minneapolis, Minnesota murder charge criminal defense lawyers represented Defendant, Dereck Chauvin, who was charged with killing George Floyd.

"Appellant State of Minnesota charged respondent Derek Michael Chauvin with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter based on the death of George Floyd. Chauvinmoved the district court to dismiss the charges against him for lack of probable cause. On October 21, 2020, the 3district court denied the motion with respect to the second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges, but the courtgranted the motion with respect to the third-degree murder charge. In doing so, the district court reasoned that “a third-degree murder charge can be sustained only in situations in which the defendant’s actions were ‘eminently dangerous to other persons’ and were not specifically directed at the particular person whose death occurred.” (Emphasis omitted.) The district court concluded that because Chauvin’s alleged death-causingactions werenot eminently dangerous to anyone other than George Floyd and werespecifically directed athim, therewas no basis to charge Chauvinwith third-degree murder."



609.185 MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.

(a) Whoever does any of the following is guilty of murder in the first degree and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life:

(1) causes the death of a human being with premeditation and with intent to effect the death of the person or of another;

(2) causes the death of a human being while committing or attempting to commit criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence, either upon or affecting the person or another;

(3) causes the death of a human being with intent to effect the death of the person or another, while committing or attempting to commit burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, arson in the first or second degree, a drive-by shooting, tampering with a witness in the first degree, escape from custody, or any felony violation of chapter 152 involving the unlawful sale of a controlled substance;

(4) causes the death of a peace officer, prosecuting attorney, judge, or a guard employed at a Minnesota state or local correctional facility, with intent to effect the death of that person or another, while the person is engaged in the performance of official duties;

(5) causes the death of a minor while committing child abuse, when the perpetrator has engaged in a past pattern of child abuse upon a child and the death occurs under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life;

(6) causes the death of a human being while committing domestic abuse, when the perpetrator has engaged in a past pattern of domestic abuse upon the victim or upon another family or household member and the death occurs under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life; or

(7) causes the death of a human being while committing, conspiring to commit, or attempting to commit a felony crime to further terrorism and the death occurs under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a), clause (4), "prosecuting attorney" has the meaning given in section 609.221, subdivision 2, paragraph (c), clause (4).

(c) For the purposes of paragraph (a), clause (4), "judge" has the meaning given in section 609.221, subdivision 2, paragraph (c), clause (5).

(d) For purposes of paragraph (a), clause (5), "child abuse" means an act committed against a minor victim that constitutes a violation of the following laws of this state or any similar laws of the United States or any other state: section 609.221; 609.222; 609.223; 609.224; 609.2242; 609.342; 609.343; 609.344; 609.345; 609.377; 609.378; or 609.713.

(e) For purposes of paragraph (a), clause (6), "domestic abuse" means an act that:

(1) constitutes a violation of section 609.221, 609.222, 609.223, 609.224, 609.2242, 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, 609.713, or any similar laws of the United States or any other state; and

(2) is committed against the victim who is a family or household member as defined in section 518B.01, subdivision 2, paragraph (b).

(f) For purposes of paragraph (a), clause (7), "further terrorism" has the meaning given in section 609.714, subdivision 1.



609.19 MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE.
Subdivision 1.Intentional murder; drive-by shootings.

Whoever does either of the following is guilty of 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 with intent to effect the death of that person or another, but without premeditation; or

(2) causes the death of a human being while committing or attempting to commit a drive-by shooting in violation of section 609.66, subdivision 1e, under circumstances other than those described in section 609.185, paragraph (a), clause (3).
§
Subd. 2.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 under section 609.748; a court order setting 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.



609.195 MURDER IN THE THIRD DEGREE.

(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.

Outcome: The jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of George Floyd. The judge sentenced him to 22.5 years.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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