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

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — 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 9 1/2 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 22 1/2-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.

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