The Patriot Post® · Did Either Chauvin or Floyd Get Justice?
After just a few hours of deliberation, a jury on Wednesday found Derek Chauvin guilty on every count in the death of George Floyd. It’s understandable that the former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter, but it also reeks of political pressure and mob rule that the jurors so quickly convicted him on the more serious but questionable charges of third-degree murder and even second-degree murder.
As everyone in America knows, last Memorial Day, then-Officer Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd to the ground by the neck for nine minutes. Everyone also knows that Floyd was protesting that he couldn’t breathe.
What many folks still don’t know, however, thanks to a Leftmedia that is a dishonest subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee, is that Floyd was high on drugs, fought with police, and begged to be put on the ground instead of the squad car.
So, what are the takeaways from this quick conviction?
As we already implied, it’s questionable whether Chauvin murdered Floyd. Second-degree murder involves felony assault, which means the jury had to conclude that Chauvin’s technique in subduing a belligerent Floyd crossed that line. Chauvin did continue to pin Floyd to the ground after Floyd had passed out and even persisted for a minute after the ambulance arrived, but there were key comorbidities involved in Floyd’s death, including fentanyl and meth in his system, along with underlying health issues.
(The indispensable Andrew McCarthy, himself a former federal prosecutor, has a must-read column delving into these questions regarding the verdict.)
We noted shortly after Floyd’s death that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was strategically overcharging Chauvin. For Ellison, it was a win-win — either nail the “racist” cop, or “prove” the system was hopelessly racist when the officer was acquitted or convicted only of the lesser charges.
That said, the jury almost certainly felt pressured to reach this verdict. On top of Ellison’s charges and pronouncements, the city of Minneapolis settled with Floyd’s family for an eye-popping $27 million. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and a host of other Democrats all to some degree pronounced Chauvin guilty even before the trial began — or in some cases during it. The judge in the trial specifically rebuked Waters, saying her incitement of violence for anything less than a full guilty verdict could taint the trial and provide fodder for an appeal.
At least Biden waited until the jury was sequestered for deliberations to say he was “praying” for the “right verdict,” the evidence for which he saw as “overwhelming.” Waters made her disgraceful comments while jurors were at home over the weekend. Part of the blame for that falls on the judge, who inexplicably declined to sequester jurors for the trial’s duration.
On top of the political influence was the death of Daunte Wright in a Minneapolis suburb — a suburb where at least one juror resides and others have connections.
Chauvin clearly has reason to appeal on grounds that the trial was not fair.
Leftists will conclude, and not without reason, that they were right to say what they said, and that such a pressure campaign — including the Burn, Loot, and Murder riots — are the only way “justice” can be achieved in a nation rife with “systemic racism.” They got the verdict they wanted, after all, and many literally cheered in the streets.
Yet systemic racism wasn’t on trial here; Chauvin was, and not for racism at that. In fact, racism was not a focal point in the trial. That won’t stop leftists from claiming vindication for their bogus claims of “systemic racism.” Indeed, Biden and Harris used those words five times in discussing the verdict.
“Systemic racism is a stain on our nation’s soul,” Biden declared. Harris added, “America has a long history of systemic racism.” Worse, she said, “Black Americans, and black men in particular, have been treated throughout the course of our history as less than human.”
Then there was the grotesque statement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Thank you, George Floyd,” she said, “for sacrificing your life for justice.” It was “heartbreaking” to hear Floyd “call out for your mom, ‘I can’t breathe,’” she added. “But because of you and because of thousands, millions of people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous with justice.”
Apparently, Floyd’s life was a sacrifice Pelosi was willing to make. Her political charade included infamously kneeling while wearing the garb of African slave traders.
Pelosi’s nemesis, the radical Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was no less reprehensible. “This verdict is not justice,” she declared. “I also don’t want this moment to be framed as this system working.”
The real shame of this trial is that no one will ever really know if the system worked. If there’s anything “systemic,” it’s the dishonest corruption of Democrats who foment urban violence among their black constituents in response to perceived injustice. They sow discord and racism everywhere while blaming the other side. Thus, this case will always be tainted by the distinct whiff of mob justice.
Update 6/25: Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.