Qatar- Floyd murder convict seeks new trial

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Derek Chauvin, the white ex-policeman convicted of murdering African American man George Floyd, has asked for a new trial on claims of jury and prosecution misconduct. The 45-year-old who knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes in Minneapolis faces up to 40 years in prison after being found guilty last month in a case that prompted a national reckoning on racial injustice and police brutality. Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson argued that his client did not get a fair trial due to publicity around the case, court and prosecution errors, as well as 'race-based pressure on the jury. He also alleges that jurors should have been isolated during the trial and that the case could only get a fair hearing in a different place. 'The publicity here was so pervasive and so prejudicial before and during this trial that it amounted to a structural defect in the proceedings, Nelson wrote. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Floyd family, fiercely opposed the motion, writing on Twitter: 'No. No. No. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. The filing came as the impartiality of a juror in the case has been called into question after a photo surfaced of him at an anti-racism rally.MENAFN06052021000067011011ID1102037951