Judge allows testing of George Floyd tissue samples as officer seeks new trial on civil rights conviction

A judge has granted permission to Derek Chauvin’s lawyers to have tissue samples from George Floyd’s body examined. It’s part of the former Minneapolis police officer’s efforts to challenge his federal conviction of violating Floyd’s civil rights after he was also convicted in Floyd’s 2020 killing. 

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson granted the order Monday, agreeing to let the defence examine Floyd’s heart tissue and fluid samples. This will be done to test a theory that Floyd died of a heart condition aggravated by a rare tumour, not — as prosecutors contend — from asphyxiation caused by the white officer pressing his knee on the Black man’s neck for nine-and-a-half minutes in May 2020. 

Chauvin’s federal defender for his appeal attempt, Robert Meyers, argued that Chauvin’s original attorney, Eric Nelson, failed to inform his client that an outside pathologist not directly involved in the case, Dr. William Schaetzel, had contacted Nelson before Chauvin entered his plea and offered an unsolicited theory that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.

Chauvin claims that amounted to “ineffective assistance counsel” and is seeking a new trial, saying he would not have pleaded guilty if he had known about the pathologist.

But federal prosecutors have argued in court filings that Nelson made a reasonable “tactical decision” not to explore an untested opinion “offered by someone holding himself out as an expert.”

Supreme Court rejected appeal of murder conviction

They pointed out that Nelson consulted with other medical experts in preparation for Chauvin’s cases, including one who testified in state court, but that the jury in that case rejected Chauvin’s medical defence. Federal prosecutors also noted that the legal barriers to succeeding on a claim of ineffective counsel are very high.

Nelson declined to comment Tuesday.

Chauvin was convicted in state court on murder charges in 2021 and pleaded guilty later that year in federal court to violating Floyd’s civil rights. He’s currently serving his 20-year federal civil rights and 22-and-a-half-year murder sentences concurrently at a federal prison in Texas.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction last year.

Floyd’s death and his dying cries of “I can’t breathe” ignited protests worldwide — some of which turned violent — and forced a reckoning over police brutality and racism.