United States: ex-policeman Derek Chauvin, convicted of the murder of George Floyd, intends to appeal – franceinfo

New twist in this trial which agitated the United States. Former US policeman Derek Chauvin intends to appeal the 22.5 year prison sentence handed down on him for the murder of African American George Floyd, according to court documents unveiled Thursday, September 23.

Derek Chauvin intends to appeal on appeal 14 points of his conviction, pronounced on June 25 by the justice of Minnesota for having killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for ten minutes in May 2020 in Minneapolis. He complains in particular that the judge did not order the solitary confinement of the jurors for the duration of the trial.

On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer, wanted to arrest George Floyd, suspected of having used a fake $ 20 bill to buy cigarettes. With three colleagues, he had pinned him to the ground, before kneeling on his neck. The policeman had maintained his pressure for nearly ten minutes, indifferent to the groans of George Floyd but also to the pleas of distraught passers-by, even once the pulse of the forty-something had become undetectable.

The scene, filmed and uploaded by a witness, quickly went viral and sparked giant protests against racism and police violence in the United States and around the world. Derek Chauvin has always assured to have followed the procedures in force in the police force to control a recalcitrant suspect. His three former colleagues, Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, are to be tried in March 2022 for “complicity in murder”, also by the courts of Minnesota.