A judge in Minneapolis ruled that Derek Chauvin's legal team can test preserved samples of George Floyd's heart as part of a challenge to Chauvin's 2022 federal conviction. Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer, is serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights alongside a 22 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
Chauvin's attorney, William Mohrman, filed a motion in November to vacate the federal charges, arguing Chauvin would not have pleaded guilty if he had known about theories proposed by Dr. William Schaetzel, a Kansas pathologist. According to Schaetzel, Floyd's death was not caused by Chauvin's actions. Instead, Schaetzel suggests Floyd died from a high level of catecholamines—stress-related neurohormones—or Takotsubo myocarditis, a condition that results from extreme emotional or physical stress.
The motion claims Chauvin's previous attorney, Eric Nelson, provided ineffective counsel by failing to inform Chauvin of Schaetzel's findings and not pursuing tests on Floyd's heart tissue. "Had I known about Dr. Schaetzel's theory, I would not have entered into the guilty plea," Chauvin asserted in court filings.
The judge's decision now allows Chauvin's attorneys to access and analyze various materials, including "slides and photographs of Floyd's heart as well as tissue samples and tissue blocks containing heart tissue." They will also test fluids from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office to measure catecholamine and metanephrine concentrations, which Schaetzel believes could support his theory.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes, a moment captured on bystander video. The incident ignited massive protests worldwide, sparking a movement addressing racial injustice.
Link: CBSNews
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