Derek Chauvin Seeks To Dismiss Charges In Death Of George Floyd

Derek Chauvin's legal team filed a new court petition Tuesday morning seeking to dismiss the charges against the former Minneapolis police officer and vacate his convictions, arguing that the case that sent him to prison for the death of George Floyd rested on a foundation that never had legal standing to begin with.

Attorney Greg Joseph submitted the 31-page filing in Hennepin County, alleging that Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Hennepin County Attorney's Office engaged in unlawful and fraudulent conduct when they brought the case against Chauvin. The central claim is procedural: a grand jury never reviewed the state’s evidence, and, under Minnesota law, Joseph argues that this omission means the state never lawfully brought the charges in the first place.

“Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill presided over a year-long due process violation by failing to convene a grand jury to consider the State’s evidence at any point between the moment he was assigned to the case, and the verdict,” the filing reads. “He lacked jurisdiction over the charges, as this Court does, because they were never lawfully brought.”

Joseph told Alpha News reporter Liz Collin the conduct amounted to a serious breach.

"What was done here is shocking," Joseph said. "It's inexcusable."

The petition places much of the blame on the trial court itself. It states that Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill presided over what it calls a year-long due process violation "by failing to convene a grand jury to consider the State's evidence at any point between the moment he was assigned to the case, and the verdict." The filing goes further, arguing Cahill "lacked jurisdiction over the charges, as this Court does, because they were never lawfully brought."

That argument extends up the chain of command. Joseph contends Walz's decision to hand the prosecution to Ellison was itself an unlawful appointment, and that Ellison used authority he never had to add a second-degree murder charge to the complaint against Chauvin. Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy withdrew from the case against the officers involved and, according to court documents cited in the filing, disagreed with the decision to pile on additional charges. 

Part of the reason for this is that the case unfolded amid extraordinary political pressure. Minneapolis erupted into riots for days after video of Floyd's detainment and death went viral. Elected officials rushed to condemn Chauvin, and activists made clear that anything short of a murder conviction would be treated as a miscarriage of justice. 

Joseph's petition suggests that pressure extended into the charging decision itself, with Walz and Ellison escalating the case to a murder charge that Hennepin County's own prosecutor did not support. 

According to the petition, “Because Hennepin County's unlawful charges against Mr. Chauvin were not severe enough for the mob, Walz referred the case to Keith Ellison, who signed and e-filed a second unfounded complaint against Derek Chauvin that included the murder charge it wanted."

Chauvin is serving two concurrent sentences, 22.5 years on the state second-degree murder conviction and 21 years on federal civil rights charges tied to Floyd's death. Joseph's petition argues the entire proceeding is unreviewable on its own terms. "It is impossible to assess the trial errors in State v. Chauvin because the entire trial was a fraud; it was based on unfounded charges that were never properly before the Court."

Joseph acknowledged the due process argument is a late addition to years of post-conviction efforts. "In a very short period of time there were very fundamental and basic violations of due process," he told Collin. "And those aren't necessarily things that defense attorneys normally look for."

The filing arrives alongside a separate, ongoing push for clemency that has run through conservative media and social platforms for more than a year. Elon Musk shared a video on X last year calling on President Trump to pardon Chauvin. While Trump holds the power to pardon Chauvin's federal civil rights convictions, the state sentence, the longer of the two, sits outside his authority.