Will blaming Derek Chauvin help 3 ex-cops in George Floyd case? No strong evidence against officers: Experts
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Derek Chauvin was found guilty of George Floyd’s death on April 20. He was convicted of all charges -- second-degree unintentional murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder. Since the three-week trial is now over and a number of people have testified, activists and the family of the Black man are eyeing the joint trial of the three other officers involved in the infamous May 25, 2020 arrest.
As per reports, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao - who have been charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter - will face trial in August. The trio has reportedly already tried to put all the blame on Chauvin since he was the most senior officer present on the scene that day.
Also, as the three plan their strategies, legal experts believe that they must be turning their attention to how much time behind bars the 45-year-old former cop will receive on June 16. Under Minnesota law, people get the same sentencing for aiding and abetting murder or manslaughter as for the act itself.
READ MORE
What are Derek Chauvin's grounds for successful appeal? Publicity and Maxine Waters’ remarks may help him
Experts also said that since the jury during the trial of Chauvin took less than 24 hours to find him guilty of the May 25 tragedy, they might hurry to consider a plea deal. “The factual differences between Chauvin and the other three are what should drive this,” Tom Heffelfinger, a former US attorney for Minnesota, said.
Legal experts also stated that the best that can happen to the three former officers during their trial is that their jury regards Derek Chauvin as the main offender but are unsure about what role they played in the tragedy of Floyd's death due to asphyxiation.
Also, the evidence against Lane, Kueng and Thao are reportedly not as strong as they were against Chauvin, giving opportunities to their attorneys to mount a solid defense. “I would expect the theme of all three would be: ‘That’s a really bad thing that Chauvin did. I didn’t like it. I’m not responsible for what happened,’” former Ramsey County, Minnesota, prosecutor Susan Gaertner said.
Besides, Lane and Kueng reportedly have the opportunity to make their case strong as they can argue that they were just new recruits at the time of the last year’s incident. They can say that they felt they should stop Chauvin from kneeling on Floyd’s neck, but could not do it. “Those two rookies have a facially different defense, and a very real factual defense, as compared to Chauvin,” Heffelfinger added.
It has been said that among the trio, Lane can defend his case best as bodycam footage showed him asking his colleagues if they should turn Floyd on his side, to which Chauvin replied in the negative. Local defense attorney Joe Friedberg said the evidence presented during Chauvin's murder trial showed Lane “trying to use as little force as possible” before the senior one took matters into his hands.
In addition, at one point, Kueng was heard telling Chauvin that Floyd had no pulse. “They’re raising questions about what was happening and whether they should be doing something different. It’s not nearly as clear-cut as I think the evidence against Chauvin was,” local defense attorney, Brock Hunter, noted.
Thao reportedly has a point to make that he was present at the scene, but was dealing with the bystanders. “His defense could be, ‘I was just present and it takes more than presence to make a crime,’” Heffelfinger mentioned.
Gaertner said, “Clearly these three defendants are significantly less culpable than Chauvin. And that should be taken into account. Another trial is going to be very disruptive, costly, and I’m not sure that that’s in the best interests of the public.” While Friedberg added, “None of them will ever plead guilty. They have three really good lawyers who are extremely aggressive lawyers. There’s no question in my mind they’re going to go to trial, and they’re going to claim that they were completely unaware of the depths of what Derek Chauvin was doing.”