Lawyer for Derek Chauvin files motion to have George Floyd murder conviction thrown out

Derek Chauvin.

The defense attorney for a former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd filed a bombshell motion Tuesday seeking to have the charges and conviction thrown out over due process violations.

Derek Chauvin was convicted by a Hennepin County jury in 2021, a year after Floyd's death, which ignited violent nationwide riots in the middle of pandemic lockdowns. Cellphone video showing Chauvin restraining Floyd with a knee on Floyd's neck prior to his death fueled the racial divisions that followed as well as the state and federal charges eventually brought against Chauvin. Chauvin is 50 and serving two concurrent sentences -- a 22-year sentence for murder on the state charges, and a 21-year sentence on federal civil rights charges. He is incarcerated at a federal prison in Texas, according to MPR News.

Chauvin's defense lawyer, Greg Joseph, appeared on Alpha News with Liz Collin Tuesday evening to discuss the latest attempt to overturn his client's murder conviction and have the charges dismissed. In the 31-page court filing, Joseph points the finger at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, state attorney general Keith Ellison and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. He said Walz and Ellison overstepped their authority by overruling the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office initial decision to bring lesser charges against Chauvin and the other officers in the case, and failing to seek an indictment from a grand jury.

“Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill presided over a year-long due process violation by failing to convene a grand jury to consider the State’s evidence at any point between the moment he was assigned to the case, and the verdict. He lacked jurisdiction over the charges, as this Court does, because they were never lawfully brought,” Joseph said in the court filing.

“In a very short period of time there were very fundamental and basic violations of due process. And those aren’t necessarily things that defense attorneys normally look for,” he said. Amy Sweasy, a Hennepin County prosecutor, withdrew from the case amid disagreement over adding a second-degree murder charge against Chauvin. Walz then appointed Ellison to lead the case, which Joseph alleges was illegal because Walz didn't follow the Minnesota statute to convey authority to Ellison.

Joseph said the due process violations should clear all of the officers who were convicted in the case. "The grand jury is essential, it's fundamental, and this case was never submitted to a grand jury," Joseph said in the interview with Collins. He went on to say that because the manner in which the charges were filed was illegal, he believes everything that followed the charges was also illegal.

"The charges are illegal, the trial was a fraud," Joseph said. "What was done here is shocking," Joseph added. "It's inexcusable." Below, watch Joseph's interview on Alpha News.