The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to reconsider a state court decision that said a third-degree murder charge against the former Minneapolis police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd had been falsely dismissed.
Derek Chauvin has already been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who is chairing the trial, had previously dismissed an additional third-degree murder charge.
Cahill will now be charged with determining the fate of the third degree murder charge against Chauvin. At the end of Wednesday’s proceedings, Cahill said he would address the situation the following morning.
“It appears that the Supreme Court has denied the review of the defendant’s request for review of the Court of Appeal’s judgment,” Cahill said in court on Wednesday. ‘I think we can talk about how it works out tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. I think we still have the jurisdiction issue with the Court of Appeal. ‘
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
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“The Supreme Court was right to reject Mr Chauvin’s request for review,” Ellison said in a statement. “The Court of Appeal ruled correctly; therefore there was no need for the Supreme Court to intervene. Murder is fair and proper.”
He continued, “We look forward to bringing it to the jury, along with allegations of 2nd degree unintentional murder and 2nd degree manslaughter.”
The news came after an appeals court in Minnesota overturned a lower court ruling Friday and Ellison paved the way to reinstate the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin. Following the court’s decision, Chauvin’s attorneys filed a petition to challenge the decision.
The Supreme Court decision came at the end of the second day of jury selection for the Chauvin Trial. So far, five jurors have sat: three white men, a woman of color and a black man, according to NBC News. The actual trial is scheduled to begin on March 29.
Chauvin is the officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes in the May 2020 viral video.