A federal judge has approved a motion allowing former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to examine heart tissue and conduct additional testing on fluids preserved from George Floyd as part of Chauvin’s ongoing effort to overturn his conviction.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson ruled in an order filed Monday that Chauvin’s defense team demonstrated “good cause” to carry out the testing.
JUST IN: In new court ruling, Derek Chauvin will be allowed to test heart tissue of George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/51Kzl1qoIP
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) December 16, 2024
Defense claims alternate cause of death
Chauvin contends his attorney at the time, Eric Nelson, failed to act on critical medical evidence that could have influenced the outcome of the federal case.
According to the order, Dr. William Schaetzel contacted Nelson before Chauvin’s federal indictment and offered a medical opinion that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.
“Dr. Schaetzel’s opinion is that Mr. Floyd died due to a catecholamine crisis when his paraganglioma secreted excessive levels of catecholamines,” the order states. “These excessive levels of catecholamines led to Takotsubo’s myocarditis (a type of acute heart failure, or heart attack), resulting in pulmonary edema and death.”
The order claims that Nelson didn’t share Dr. Schaetzel’s opinions with Chauvin or follow through on recommended tests that could have backed this alternate cause-of-death theory.
Chauvin’s legal team contends that this oversight amounts to ineffective legal representation and is the foundation of his effort to overturn his federal civil rights conviction, according to the order.
“Given the significant nature of the criminal case that Mr. Chauvin was convicted
of, and given that the discovery that Mr. Chauvin seeks could support Dr. Schaetzel’s
opinion of how Mr. Floyd died, the Court finds that there is good cause to allow
Mr. Chauvin to take the discovery that he seeks,” Magnuson’s order states.
Chauvin was convicted in 2021 in Minnesota state court of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for the 2020 death of George Floyd. He later pleaded guilty to violating Floyd’s federal civil rights and is currently serving a 21-year federal sentence.
Chauvin also plans to ask for his state convictions to be overturned, Alpha News recently reported.
“It’s really a day-by-day, hour-by-hour process to survive nowadays,” Chauvin recently told Alpha News in an exclusive interview ahead of the trial of John Turscak, who is accused of stabbing Chauvin 22 times in a Tucson prison last year.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
