A judge has granted a motion allowing lawyers for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to test preserved samples of George Floyd’s heart as they attempt to vacate his federal conviction, CBS News reports.
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin pinned his knee to Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes, killing the 46-year-old Black man.
Chauvin was sentenced in 2021 to 22.5 years in state prison on charges of murder and manslaughter in connection to Floyd’s killing. He also pleaded guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison. The former officer is serving his sentences concurrently.
Last November, Chauvin’s attorney filed a motion to vacate his federal charges based on theories by Kansas pathologist Dr. William Schaetzel, who doesn’t believe the former officer’s actions led to Floyd’s death. Schaetzel suggested that Floyd died of high levels of catecholamines, a neurohormone associated with the flight-or-fight response, or Takotsubo myocarditis, a heart condition caused by intense emotional or physical experiences.
Chauvin accused Eric Nelson, his former attorney, of ineffective counsel for failing to inform him of Schaetzel’s theories and failing to test samples of Floyd’s heart. He said he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty if he had known about the theories.
On Monday (December 16), a judge granted Chauvin’s motion, allowing his attorneys to take discovery of slides and photographs of Floyd’s heart along with tissue samples and tissue blocks containing heart tissue. Attorneys will also be able to obtain fluids from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office to test the “concentration of fractionated catecholamines and metanephrine levels present,” court documents state.
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