Judge allows testing of tissue samples from George Floyd as officer who killed him seeks new trial

MINNEAPOLIS — A judge has granted permission to lawyers for Derek Chauvin to have samples from George Floyd examined as part of the former Minneapolis police officer’s efforts to challenge his conviction on a federal civil rights charge stemming from Floyd’s death in 2020.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson agreed in an order Monday to let the defense examine Floyd’s heart tissue and fluid samples to test a theory that Floyd died of a heart condition aggravated by a rare tumor, not — as prosecutors contend — from asphyxiation caused by the white officer pressing his knee on the Black man’s neck for 9½ minutes despite Floyd’s dying cries of, “I can’t breathe.”

Floyd’s death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Chauvin was convicted in state court on murder charges in 2021 and pleaded guilty later that year in federal court to violating Floyd’s civil rights. His federal defender for his appeal attempt, Robert Meyers, argued in his request that Chauvin’s original attorney, Eric Nelson, failed to inform his client that an outside pathologist not directly involved in the case, Dr. William Schaetzel, of Topeka, Kansas, had contacted Nelson before Chauvin entered his plea and offered an unsolicited theory that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.

Chauvin claims that amounted to “ineffective assistance counsel” and is seeking a new trial, saying he would not have pleaded guilty if he had known about the pathologist.

But federal prosecutors have argued in court filings that Nelson made a reasonable “tactical decision” not to explore an untested opinion “offered by someone holding himself out as an expert.” They pointed out that Nelson consulted with other medical experts in preparation for Chauvin’s cases, including one who testified in state court, but that the jury in that case rejected Chauvin’s medical defense. They also noted that the legal barriers to succeeding on a claim of ineffective counsel are very high.

Nelson declined to comment Tuesday.

Chauvin is serving his 20-year federal civil rights and 22½-year state murder sentences concurrently at a federal prison in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court last year rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction.