MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A judge has denied prosecutors’ request to reinstate a third-degree murder charge against an ex-Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death.
The state filed a motion last week to add back the charge against Derek Chauvin, as well as add aiding and abetting third-degree murder charges against the other three officers charged in the case – Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane. That request was also denied.
The state’s motion came on the heels of a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision to uphold the third-degree murder conviction of Mohamed Noor, the ex-Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
Chauvin’s defense filed an opposition to the reinstatement, saying the Noor decision cannot yet be considered precedential since Noor still has time to petition the Minnesota Supreme Court. The court’s decision on the Chauvin charge echoes this argument.
The court’s ruling also states that “dismissing the charge of Murder in the Third Degree was correct and nothing in the majority opinion in Noor persuades the Court otherwise.”
Chauvin is currently charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, and the other three officers are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that, just days after Floyd’s death, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr stopped a plea deal that would have avoided a trial for Chauvin.
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Source: CBS Minnesota
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