Was Expert Testimony in Chauvin Trial 'Coerced' and Then Offered by Prosecution Knowing the Expert Was Threatened?
By Shipwreckedcrew | May 14, 2021 5:30 PM ET
There were two developments this week relating to the prosecution of four ex-Minneapolis Police Officers in the death of George Floyd.
First, Minnesota State Court Judge Cahill postponed the trial of the three remaining officers because of the federal indictment last week of those same officers for violating Floyd’s federal civil rights. The three — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane — were set to have their state court trial take place in August, but Judge Cahill postponed the trial until March 2022 in order to let the federal case proceed first, and also to put some time and distance between the controversial trial of Chauvin and the trial of the other three former police officers.
In a federal case, a criminal defendant has a statutory right to have his trial begin not longer than 70 days after his arraignment on the indictment filed against him. There are a variety of causes that can be used to justify “excluding time” under the statute, which extends the 70 day period out into the future. These justifications are almost always agreed to jointly by the parties, and mostly involve the need to do additional investigation or preparation of the case for trial. But, depending on the district and the personal practices of the federal judge handling the case, federal criminal cases can advance to trial in 7-9 months very easily.
A second major development was a motion filed by the defense attorneys for Thou Thao seeking to have the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office removed from the case based on an allegation that a key prosecution witness, Hennepin County Coroner Dr. Andrew Baker, was coerced into changing his final autopsy report, that the Minnesota AG’s Office knew he was coerced, and presented his coerced testimony without providing discovery in the defense in the Chauvin trial.
On May 26, 2020, Dr. Baker performed an autopsy on George Floyd’s body following his death. He is the only expert who testified at Chauvin’s trial who actually examined Floyd’s “injuries.”
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https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2021/05/14/was-expert-testimony-in-chauvin-trial-coerced-and-then-offered-by-prosecution-knowing-the-expert-was-threatened-n379365
