Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of George Floyd, filed a petition on Tuesday requesting the immediate dismissal of his state murder conviction. The filing, submitted to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, marks the third time Chauvin has sought to have these specific charges dismissed following two previous denials.
The petition follows years of legal challenges since Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder for kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a Black man, for more than nine minutes in May 2020. The event led to nationwide protests regarding police conduct and racial justice. Chauvin is currently serving a state sentence of more than 22 years and a concurrent 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights.
In the new filing, Chauvin’s attorneys allege multiple violations of due process rights. They argue that the Hennepin County District Court lacked jurisdiction because prosecutors did not secure a grand jury indictment or convene a grand jury for a probable cause determination. Additionally, the petition characterizes Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s (D) decision to delegate the case to Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) as an "unlawful assignment of authority."
The petition targets the legal processes used by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office and the Hennepin County District Court. A ruling in favor of Chauvin could establish a precedent regarding when a state governor may delegate prosecution authority to an attorney general and whether a grand jury is mandatory for such charges in Minnesota. The Minnesota Attorney General's office has declined to comment on the filing, and it is not yet known how the state will formally respond in court.
What happens next depends on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which must now review the petition and decide whether to hear the case or issue a summary denial. The U.S. Supreme Court previously declined to review Chauvin's conviction in 2023 after a similar rejection by the Minnesota Supreme Court. No specific date for a hearing or a ruling on this third petition has been reported. Chauvin remains in federal prison, where he has been held since 2021.