Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck in 2020 for nearly nine minutes, was found guilty for second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter Tuesday.
William Jacobson, Cornell Law Professor, joined Tony Katz Wednesday morning to discuss the trial. While Jacobson says Judge Peter Cahill was reasonable and did his best, there were two errors he made that tainted the entirety of the case.
- Not moving the trial out of Minneapolis.
Jacobson says that having the trial in the city where the incident occurred was too risky.
“You went into a trial with threats of violence, a history of violence in Minneapolis, the city, entire neighborhoods were burnt down and completely gutted. People threatening violence if it wasn’t the result they wanted in the case.”
2. Not sequestering the jury.
He argues that even though the faces of the jurors were not shown, their voices were heard. By not sequestering the jury, Jacobson says anonymity was near impossible.
“The jurors really had no anonymity. I think it was guaranteed if there was a not guilty verdict by the time we are speaking now these names would be out there reporters would be at their front doors and protesters would be leaving severed pig heads at their doors “(referencing a group who attempted the act to the defense witness.)
William Jacobson will be posting his full post-trial analyst Wednesday evening at 8 pm on legalinsurrection.com.
Listen to his interview with Tony here:
