Derek Chauvin asks state to reconsider George Floyd murder conviction

Former Minneapolis Officer Files Third Petition to Overturn George Floyd Murder Conviction

Provpnadvice.com – Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer whose 2020 arrest of George Floyd ignited a global reckoning with American policing, has once again asked a state appellate court to throw out his murder conviction. Filed on Tuesday in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the latest petition marks the third separate attempt by Chauvin’s legal team to have the state charges erased from the record. The two earlier motions seeking the same outcome were rejected by lower courts.

The Due Process Argument

At the heart of the new filing is a sweeping claim that multiple procedural steps taken before and during the trial violated Chauvin’s constitutional right to due process. His attorneys argue that the very structure of the prosecution was defective from the outset, rendering both the trial court and the appeals court without jurisdiction over the charges on which he remains incarcerated.

Specifically, the petition points to three procedural failures: the decision by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to hand the case to Attorney General Keith Ellison rather than leaving it in Hennepin County’s district attorney’s office; the Hennepin County District Court’s choice to proceed without convening a grand jury; and the prosecution’s failure to obtain a formal indictment before trial.

The filing characterizes Walz’s delegation of prosecutorial authority to Ellison as an “unlawful assignment of authority,” suggesting that the governor overstepped his constitutional role in routing the case through the state’s top law-enforcement office instead of the local district attorney’s office.

“As a result of these several due process violations, including the failure to present the matter to a grand jury for a probable cause determination or even to convene one, both this Court and the District Court lack jurisdiction over the charges in the Amended Complaint on which he is currently incarcerated, and it must be dismissed immediately,” Chauvin’s legal team wrote in the filing.

The Minnesota attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the new petition.

A Conviction Born of National Outrage

The underlying facts of the case remain among the most widely documented in recent American history. On May 25, 2020, Chauvin — a white officer — knelt on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than nine minutes while Floyd lay face-down on a Minneapolis street, pleading that he could not breathe. Video captured by bystanders spread across social media within hours, triggering weeks of mass protest across the United States and abroad against systemic police violence and racial injustice. The demonstrations, which drew millions of participants, reshaped public discourse on policing, criminal-justice reform, and racial equity in ways that continue to reverberate in state legislatures and city councils to this day.

Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, official oppression, and two counts of aiding and abetting official oppression. At trial in Hennepin County, a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and both counts of official oppression. He received a state sentence exceeding 22 years. Separately, a federal jury convicted him of violating Floyd’s civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and he was handed a 21-year federal prison term.

Three Petitions, Two Rejections

This is not the first time Chauvin’s lawyers have sought to unwind the state conviction. Two prior petitions asking for dismissal were denied by Minnesota courts. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal after Minnesota’s highest court had already turned down his petition for review, leaving the conviction intact at every level of the state judiciary.

The current filing, however, reframes the argument around jurisdictional defects rather than trial-error claims. By asserting that the court never acquired lawful authority over the charges in the first place, the petition attempts to sidestep the standard appellate review framework under which prior motions were evaluated. Whether the Court of Appeals will entertain a jurisdictional challenge at this stage — years after trial, sentencing, and multiple rounds of appellate review — remains to be seen.

Where Chauvin Stands Today

Chauvin has been held in federal custody since 2021, serving his federal civil-rights sentence while also carrying the state murder term. His continued incarceration, combined with the ongoing legal maneuvering, keeps the Floyd case in the public eye more than four years after the killing. For Floyd’s family and advocates who pushed for accountability, each new petition is a reminder that the legal aftermath of the case stretches far beyond the courtroom verdict itself. For observers tracking criminal-justice procedure, the filing raises questions about the limits of gubernatorial delegation of prosecutorial authority and the role of grand juries in Minnesota’s felony process — questions that may carry implications well beyond a single defendant’s fate.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has not yet indicated when it will rule on the petition. Chauvin’s attorneys have asked for “immediate dismissal,” but no timeline has been set for a decision.