MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (KARE/NBC) – The Minnesota Court of Appeals heard arguments Monday from prosecutors to reinstate third-degree murder charges for Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer accused in the death of George Floyd.
The hearing came one week before jury selection begins for Chauvin’s trial March 8. He is currently charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Monday’s hearing comes a month after Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill denied the state’s motion to restore the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin after previously dismissing the charge for lack of probable cause and that prosecutors had to prove Chauvin’s actions endangered others.
Minnesota case law has historically regarded third-degree murder as a “death-causing act” that cannot be directed at a single person.
A recent court of appeals ruling in the case of Black former police officer Mohamed Noor decided that “third-degree murder may occur even if the death-causing act endangered only one person.”
The state has argued the Noor ruling is precedential and can now be used to reinstate the charge against Chauvin. But Cahill denied the state’s request, saying that the Minnesota Court of Appeals decision is not precedential until the state supreme court avenues have been exhausted.
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