A new motion filed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will allow his defense team to test George Floyd’s heart tissue and blood in a new attempt to prove Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.
Chauvin was convicted in 2022 of the murder of Floyd on Memorial Day 2020, and was also convicted on federal charges of violating his civil rights. During an attempted arrest, Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, with the 46-year-old pronounced dead a short time later. It sparked civil unrest and riots in Minneapolis, and a global protest movement to end racial inequality.
Chauvin is currently serving state and federal prison sentences of over 20 years; however, he is seeking to overturn his federal conviction due to having “ineffective assistance of counsel.”
According to Chauvin’s motion, his original defense attorney, Eric Nelson, did not tell him that forensic pathologist, Dr. William Schaetzel, said a heart condition called Takotsubo’s myocarditis could have caused Floyd’s death, not Chauvin kneeling on his neck for nine minutes.
Per the filing, Dr. Schaetzel claims Floyd may have had excessive levels of catecholamines that caused him to have a heart attack, resulting in pulmonary edema and death. On Monday, Chavin’s motion to test this theory by inspecting samples taken during Floyd’s autopsy was granted.
Chauvin’s trial featured testimony from multiple medical experts, among them Dr. Lindsey Thomas, formerly of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, who determined Floyd’s death was caused by asphyxiation. Multiple experts brought by the prosecution agreed.
The defense attempted to argue that the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd’s body meant he died from an overdose. This theory was rejected by Hennepin County chief medical examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, who listed “heart disease” and “drug use” as secondary factors in his death, but that his primary cause of death was “subdual, restraint and neck compression.”
During the trial, Baker noted that the levels of drugs in Floyd’s body were not sufficient to cause an overdose, and pointed to the fact that Floyd was talking, pleading during his arrest that he couldn’t breathe, whereas opioids such as fentanyl has the opposite effect, depressing the body’s inclination to breathe.
Baker added that Floyd’s heart disease was a factor as his body needed more oxygen than normal to function, which was exacerbated by Chauvin’s knee on his neck.
The Chauvin’s motion says that his defense is asking to inspect Floyd’s vitreous fluid, postmortem femoral blood, antemortem blood, and urine to see if fractionated catecholamines and metanephrine levels are present.
Chauvin also wants to examine Floyd’s heart tissue slides and photographs of his heart to see if they show evidence of Takotsubo’s myocarditis.
The court granted these requests, writing that Chauvin could examine Floyd’s heart tissue and that the defense could inspect, examine, and make copies of any photographs taken of Mr. Floyd’s heart. The defense will also be allowed to take quantities of certain fluids.
Related: Charges: Inmate stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 times with improvised knife
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