The defense attorney for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has filed a motion pointing to prosecutorial misconduct, judicial errors and impropriety by jurors.
Chauvin’s attorney Derek Nelson argues that Chauvin should receive a new trial in "the interests of justice," because he alleges that Chauvin's constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial were violated.
“Nelson wrote that (Judge Peter) Cahill abused his discretion by denying Chauvin's request for a change of venue, rejecting a previous request Nelson made for a new trial, failing to sequester jurors for the entirety of the trial and refusing to compel Floyd's friend to testify at trial.
Cahill also erred, Nelson said, in giving jurors instructions that "failed to accurately reflect the law" and allowing prosecutors to call multiple use-of-force experts as witnesses, among other issues.
"The cumulative effect of the multiple errors in these proceedings deprived Mr. Chauvin of a fair trial, in violation of his constitutional rights," Nelson wrote.
Cahill should have previously granted a new trial, Nelson said, because "The publicity here was so pervasive and so prejudicial before and during this trial that it amounted to a structural defect in the proceedings."
He pointed to publicity after testimony concluded but before deliberations began that resulted in "intimidation of the defense's expert witnesses, from which the jury was not insulated."
On April 18, a day before jury deliberations began, vandals left a pig's head at the former California home of defense use-of-force witness and retired police officer Barry Brodd. Blood was smeared on the house in Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco. A police statement read, "It appears the suspects in this vandalism were targeting Mr. Brodd for his testimony." The incident was reported in local and national media.
News outlets also reported on a federal lawsuit filed in another case against the defense's medical expert, retired Maryland Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler.
"Not only did such acts escalate the potential for prejudice in these proceedings, they may result in a far-reaching chilling effect on defendants' ability to procure expert witness — especially in high-profile cases such as those of Mr. Chauvin's co-defendants — to testify on their behalf," Nelson's filing read.
Attorney Earl Gray, who is representing one of three other former officers charged in Floyd's death, said the publicity about Brodd and Fowler is making it more difficult for his client, Thomas Lane, and the other co-defendants to find and keep expert witnesses.”
Also, over the weekend details about one of the jurors in the trial who has come forward to talk to the media shows he likely lied during the selection process.
Brandon Mitchell or juror #52 attended a BLM even in DC where Floyd’s family spoke at. A photo on social media shows Mitchell wearing a T-shirt featuring the likeness of King, surrounded by text that reads “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks,” and “BLM.”
"Before being selected, Mitchell filled out this questionnaire. On it, he said he never attended protests over police brutality in Minnesota or beyond. He also answered a question on Black Lives Matter, saying, “Black lives just want to be treated as equals and not killed or treated in an aggressive manner simply because they are Black.” He says the march in DC was "100 percent not" a march for Floyd, adding, "It was directly related to MLK's March on Washington from the '60s … The date of the March on Washington is the date."