Chauvin Defense Files Arguments in Support of Claims on Juror Misconduct and Lack of Impartiality
By Shipwreckedcrew | Jun 03, 2021 6:00 PM ET
The Derek Chauvin defense team filed their legal arguments in support of a motion for a new trial based on his claims that prejudicial pretrial publicity in his case made it impossible for him to receive the constitutionally mandated “fair trial” in Hennepin County, and that juror misconduct during the case deprived him of the right to a fair and impartial jury.
The 53-page memorandum does an effective job at cataloging the shortcomings of Judge Peter Cahill in addressing and resolving these issues. While it is a near certainty that Judge Cahill will deny the motions for a new trial and a change of venue — Minneapolis would likely burn if he granted them — and a Minnesota appeals court is likely to do the same, the motions nevertheless lay the groundwork for some serious legal arguments in the months ahead. Courts are going to have to grapple with the problem of how to deliver to an accused defendant the fair trial before an impartial jury under the Constitution in today’s interconnected and social-media-dominated world.
Right at the start, the memorandum focuses on what I have always thought was the fatal error by Judge Cahill in his somewhat cavalier approach to dealing with Chauvin’s motion for a change of venue based on prejudicial pretrial publicity. The memorandum quotes Judge Cahill’s in-court comments as follows:
As far as change of venue, I do not think that that would give the defendant any kind of fair trial beyond what we are doing here today. I don’t think there’s any place in the state of Minnesota that has not be subjected to extreme amounts of publicity in this case.
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https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2021/06/03/chauvin-defense-files-arguments-in-support-of-claims-on-juror-misconduct-and-lack-of-impartiality-n390879
