Former McHenry County Board member Mike Walkup, who has moved to Minnesota, offers this view on the murder verdict of the Minneapolis policeman:
The only real doubt in the verdict was on the first count, for Murder in the Second Degree.
The Minnesota statute provides as follows;
609.19 MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE.
Subd. 2.Unintentional murders.
Whoever does either of the following is guilty of unintentional murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years:
(1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting;
This is what is commonly known as the “felony murder rule”.
It is usually applied to situations like, for example, where someone robs a convenience store using a toy gun. He obviously does not intend to kill anyone.
As he is leaving the store, however, the cashier pulls out a real gun and shoots it at him, hitting instead a customer who was just entering through the door and killing the customer.
The robber would be guilty of Felony Murder as a death occurred while committing a felony even if he had not desired or intended for that to occur.
Also if he had a lookout man or getaway driver outside, that person would be guilty of murder also.
There are lots of possible scenarios for this.
The jury here apparently reasoned that Chauvin was committing a “felony” by leaving his knee on Floyd’s neck for over 9 minutes.
I would question that as Chauvin was attempting to keep Floyd subdued until more help could arrive, but did so negligently. So he would be exercising his lawful authority, albeit very poorly.
He was then found guilty of the other two counts, which were clearly appropriate in my opinion.
The defense argument about the cause of death was ridiculous. It’s like saying that if you are about to be hit by a truck and have a bad heart and have a heart attack out of fright one second before the truck creamed you, you weren’t killed by the truck.
So the defense on this case was what is called a “slow plea.”
I don’t know if any deals were offered but if so, Chauvin should have taken them.
This also has to be looked at in terms of recent local history.
About two years ago, a Black Somali born police officer shot and killed a white woman when he was responding to what turned out to be her call about suspicious noises in the alley behind her house.
This took place a night.
When his car parked in the alley, the woman emerged and started tapping on the window of the squad car with her cell phone.
His partner, who was standing by the car, started to unsnap his service revolver holster.
The Black officer then pulled out his gun and shot and killed the woman, thinking she was the attacker.
He was convicted last year of Third Degree Murder which requires a finding that he acted with a “depraved mind”.
I don’t see how anyone could conclude that under those facts as he had only a split second to make up his mind.
So if a Black officer is convicted for shooting a white woman in an impulsive act like that, how can you not convict a White officer who had over 9 minutes to think about what he was doing?
The whole town, and possibly the whole country, would have gone nuts.
I’m unfamiliar with Minnesota law, but wouldn’t the underlying felony be a battery of some nature ?
This was a mobicide verdict, George Floyd the criminal has now been transformed into a martyr for the ages.
And now emboldened, the BLM types threaten more violent social upheaval should anyone dare to
cross them in any way.
If you think things will now cool down, let me assure you that nothing could be further from
the truth or reality.
This is the Marxism for the new millennium instituted by the DEMOCRATS and their ministry of
propaganda FAKE NEWS MEDIA.
Don’t be scared, be prepared for what is yet to come.
@ Innocent Primate.
Yes, that would probably be the “felony” but a police officer in the line of duty is privileged to commit a battery if necessary to effect an arrest or prevent the commission of some other crime.
So at what point was the line crossed and it was no longer part of his official duty to keep restraining the subject in the manner he was doing it?
Certainly this was negligent police conduct and probably gross negligence or “Willful and Wanton” in terms of getting around the partial immunity that the Supreme Court invented number of years ago to shield police officers from being sued for merely bad judgement calls.
But this was a criminal case not civil so I think it was “bootstrapping”.
We will see what the Minnesota Supreme Court does with it a couple of years. Things should have cooled off by then.
Good. We need to put more police officers into prison and we will. Cops lie. Cops aren’t heroes and there are far more dangerous jobs out there.
Cops are nothing but the enforcement arm of the GLOBOHOMO. You can’t complain about your government being alien and then defend cops. Cops defend whatever the “law” is. How are the politics of your state, Trump boy, are you winning yet? What party is in control and makes laws?
Cops have no morals. Cops will take your guns away. Cops kill unarmed white people all the time.
Stop defending cops.
“The courts will take care of it deeeerrrrp”
Your “right wing” supreme court didn’t even want to hear election challenges lmao
When the somebody from the Atty gen. Office leaked the jurors IDs, how could Chauvin get a fair trial?
There were zero riots, lootings, demonstrations, fires etc, when Justine Damond, the white women killed by the Somali cop.
Maybe Former McHenry County Board member Mike Walkup, who has moved to Minnesota, can offer his view about how long he collected a county board paycheck and benes after moving to Minnesota.
https://summit.news/2019/06/14/desmond-is-amazings-mother-defends-decision-to-allow-12-year-old-drag-kid-to-perform-at-gay-bar-for-tips/
Michael J. Walkup
You’re correct, qualified immunity (applicable in the context of constitutional torts) has never, to my knowledge, explicitly been applied in a state criminal law context.
And you raise an interesting question, to-wit:
was such doctrine applied sub silentio in this instance even though such doctrine has of late come under increased criticism ?
I think we have to agree, don’t we, that at some point use of force by a police officer is no longer necessary to effect an arrest or restrain someone in custody and can transmute into both a constitutional tort and a criminal law violation.
(After all, can a police officer just shot someone in custody with impunity ?)
I mean, that has to be the case, doesn’t it ?
Is there any way of escaping such a conclusion ?
Such being the case, the question is, then, how and where is the line defined in a state criminal law context ?
In the constitutional tort context, qualified immunity draws the line at conduct which violates “clearly established law”.
To draw a parallel, in a criminal law context that would, I suppose, be a question of “clearly established” state law (when use of force is justified) likely to vary in particulars state by state.
As I said, it’s an interesting question.
George Floyd a saint? Just a 290 lb thug.
This is what the wretched and unhinged Democrat Pelosi said about George:
“Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice. Because of you, and because of millions of people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous with justice.”
Synonymous with justice? This guy served 4 years in jail for aggravated robbery in a home invasion.
This is a part of his bio from WIKI:
“Between 1997 and 2005, he was convicted of eight crimes. He served four years in prison after accepting a plea bargain for a 2007 aggravated robbery in a home invasion.”
A commenter at 5:22 PM yesterday said, “Stop defending cops.”
Have to look at the data. How many millions and millions of times in a year do police, whether called by 911, or on patrol, have good and proper encounters with the public? Is it well over 99 percent of the times? It seems like the current whitehouse administration, similar to the Obama 8 years, is intent on incorrectly claiming there is so-called “systemic racism” in police departments in the US which then serves to put the lives of cops at risk.
Pay attention to how today’s top Democrat leadership and a good part of the Democrat shilling left wing media will try to crucify a Columbus OH police officer who shot and killed a 16-year old girl who was in the act of attacking another girl with a knife. There was police video and security video from a neighbor’s house clearly showing the 16-year old girl wielding a knife who was in the act of wanting to injure or kill another girl who was dressed in pink. The police were requested by a 911 call to come to the scene. The police officer likely saved the life of the girl in pink or prevented great bodily injury.
One of the media that does broadcast news, and is famous for faking exploding gas tanks on pickup trucks years ago, edited out a key part of the video showing the 16-year old ready to stab/kill with a knife. This intentionally dishonest reporting only serves to promote hatred of cops. Reckless reporting.
The buffoon and plagiarist in the whitehouse and his sidekick have added to tensions in the U.S. by proclaiming “systemic racism” had a part in the death of Floyd when that was not charged. In this recent episode in Columbus, the whitehouse mouthpiece, Jen Psaki continues the reckless and inflammatory and incorrect rhetoric of her buffoon boss by inferring that “systemic racism” and “police violence” were a part of the shooting in Columbus. She said:
“The killing of 16-year old Mikila Bryant by the Columbus Police is tragic. She was a child We know that police violence disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people in communities and that Black women and girls like Black men and boys experience higher rates of police violence. Our focus is on working to address systemic racism and implicit bias head-on.”
While you nitwits are arguing over something that NEVER existed, maybe you should take a gander at how you’ve been played.
http://mileswmathis.com/chauvin.pdf
Aren’t you people catching on yet, that everything is staged to control you?
@Cindy, yes they are controlling me.
You are so right!
I am a government robot.
Aliens dictate what the president does.
The world is a conspiracy.
This blog is just a figment of my imagination.
The covid shot was a tracking device for research.
I am whispering because the men in black are listening.
Gotta go, the black silent helicopter is here for me.
Hope to see you in the matrix….
Police didn’t exist until not too long ago. Throughout about half of this country’s history we didn’t have a kind of police force you’re familiar with.
Your country is locked down for a virus that 99 percent of people survive from. Your country defends this. LOL
Keep defending your GLOBOHOMO MILITARIZED POLICE FORCE.
They’ll be coming for your guns and your children soon enough, bred winner.
Illinois will just declare you being a non-democrat is subject to arrest.
Police will go along with it.
How many of Trump’s supporters have been arrested lmao?
Bred winner you are such a retard. You’re going to get what’s coming to you.
Traitors are going to get the rope first.