# Minnesota trial of Derek Chauvin (killer of George Floyd) reactions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024 "2021-03-30T13:14:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 36
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/701 "2021-04-21T12:09:34Z")
I think he was using his knee on neck to express his awesome power to those watching, the more they became concerned, the bigger his dick got - it increased his sense of awesomeness that he could control and intimidate the spectators. To him, removing his knee would have been an expression of weakness in front of a public he was trying to intimidate - he did make comments to one witness - “Oh, so you’re a tough guy eh?” which was an obvious threat and a demonstration of his power, authority and awesomeness. He had absolutely no regard for life, merely his own ego - look at me, look at what I can do, I can do it to you too, because I am awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/702 "2021-04-21T12:11:19Z")
Any felony at all. You can be robbing a bank and accidentally hit a pedestrian during the getaway and it’s felony murder. I don’t know if this is the law in all states, but it’s pretty much the canonical example. It can even apply if you don’t cause the death, in some cases. For example if you rob and attack a guard and the guard shoots and kills a bystander. You can be charged with felony murder because your actions caused the death during the commission of the felony. One interesting exception is that in some states if the underlying felony is the cause of the death then it’s not felony murder - it would have to be straight murder. So if that was the standard in MN then I guess Chauvin wouldn’t have really applied to felony murder since the underlying felony was the assault that caused the death. Not all states have felony murder statues - a quick Wikipedia search shows that Hawaii, Kentucky, and Michigan have abolished theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/703 "2021-04-21T12:19:53Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I’ve been lurking on a right-wing board this evening. Many there are expressing disappointment that “liberal Democrat cities” are not rioting. After all, celebrating a guilty verdict in the streets should descend into rioting That’s scary. My husband said something similar, not that he was disappointed at the lack of rioting, but that he expected it. He is registered as an independent, but sometimes he seems so Republican. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/704 "2021-04-21T12:22:37Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Steve Jobs changed all that. Everybody’s got a video camera, with audio, in their pocket now. > > It’s no longer “the witness says the cop assaulted the deceased”. > > Now it’s “Members of the jury, we ask you to watch this video of the cop assaulting the deceased, and listen to the deceased gasping for breath.” > > Thanks, Mr. Jobs. You done good. While that certainly _seems_ true, I don’t think that’s entirely it. There was video of the Rodney King beating and the jury acquitted the cops because they were cops. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/705 "2021-04-21T13:00:43Z")
now we wait to see if any of the jurors will talk about the trail. on to the next trial, august 23rd. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/706 "2021-04-21T13:01:20Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I don’t feel joyful at all. Just relieved a little bit. > > I expected to feel happier than I do. I’ve been involved in waiting for a lot of court decisions over the years, and that’s not uncommon. A man died needlessly. That’s a tragedy. Society can punish the killer, but the man is still dead. There’s no joy there. Satisfaction at the right result, and that the system has worked. But little joy. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/707 "2021-04-21T13:10:28Z")
In 1992 I remember quite a few people saying that, well, Rodney King deserved a good thrashing. And these people received little or no social sanction. Even as far as we have slid back in the last few years, I don’t think you can say that today without a lot of blowback. Or maybe because now you’d say it on Facebook and a lot more people would see it beyond the people you intended to hear it. And denying that you said it would be harder. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/708 "2021-04-21T13:15:18Z")
There was an element of sadism in the murder. Choking a grown man who’s prone and desperately begging for his life… while surrounded by a crowd of people also begging for his life. It would have cost Chauvin nothing to simply stop, but he defiantly countinued and even stared down the crowd while doing it. Its worth reading [Minneapolis police’s original statement](https://twitter.com/chrisvanderveen/status/1384616345262776322/photo/1) which (after knowing the truth) reads like something from 1984 or some hellish dystopia. Without video evidence this would’ve been the final/near-to-final word on this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/709 "2021-04-21T13:17:28Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > I think he was using his knee on neck to express his awesome power to those watching, the more they became concerned, the bigger his dick got - it increased his sense of awesomeness that he could control and intimidate the spectators. > > To him, removing his knee would have been an expression of weakness in front of a public he was trying to intimidate - he did make comments to one witness - “Oh, so you’re a tough guy eh?” which was an obvious threat and a demonstration of his power, authority and awesomeness. > > He had absolutely no regard for life, merely his own ego - look at me, look at what I can do, I can do it to you too, because I am awesome. A (very) slightly more charitable theory: Police officers are trained to maintain control of an encounter, and taught that doing otherwise is dangerous. For an officer to grant polite requests is not a big deal, but acceding to angry demands from arrestees or bystanders is, in an officer’s mind, tantamount to a dangerous loss of control - _even when those demands are totally reasonable_. The outcome is the same - Chauvin felt a need to project power over both Floyd and the crowd, and not let the crowd believe they had any control over what was happening, even as it because obvious to him that he was indeed killing Floyd (because shit, how could it _not_ have been obvious after several minutes of silence from Floyd??) - but the motive may have been less about Chauvin indulging in a self-gratifying exercise of power and more about following that “maintain control at all times” training. A smarter officer would have realized that continuing to dangerously kneel on Floyd’s neck in slavish adherence to that training was bad, and that listening to the crowd (and admitting they were right) would have been the smart thing to do. Coulda been that, or coulda been just not wanting to admit to everyone on the scene that he had made a mistake. Or it could have been as you describe, i.e. Chauvin indulging his own macho need to not allow himself to be influenced by anybody. It’ll take a review of his policing history (or an honest jailhouse interview of Chauvin once any appeals are done) to better understand WTF he was thinking last May. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/710 "2021-04-21T13:19:30Z")
> [@DeadTreasSecretaries](#): > > Unfortunately I think this might be the start of some very gradual change, but I think it will be a while before this is a trend. Chauvin’s actions were so egregious and had such a backlash that the prosecution had to be as thorough as they were, and his fellow police officers felt they couldn’t protect him. We’ll see if anything short of this causes the same level of accountability, but I don’t think the justice system is going to change all that much very quickly unfortunately. I’m not sure it will ever become a trend. Chauvin was convicted because his very deliberate action took a long time to kill Floyd, so he couldn’t possibly argue that it was a split-second decision made out of fear for his own life. Most killings by police are shootings, with fatal decisions made in the blink of an eye, and even if they appear on video to be in the wrong it’s a much taller hill to prove any kind of malicious intent. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/711 "2021-04-21T13:24:49Z")
Because the system puts money in the hands of schools based off property taxes, leaving less money to poor communities. Because the system ties health insurance to employment, meaning many poor POC are left with inadequate insurance. Because the system gives the police union a lot of power to protect their own. Because the system puts access to polling places, vaccine locations, etc. off of bus lines, meaning you have to have access to a car. There are hundreds of way that the system rewards being white and/or having money (class and race being tied together in our country) - from the cut of women’s clothing being for “skinny white girl butts” to bias in sentencing within the justice system. Heck, this idea of free tuition is really biased. When the high school graduation rate has a 10% gap in it between white kids and black ones (plus a ton of other issues to address) do we think free tuition is going to help racial inequality? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/712 "2021-04-21T13:35:42Z")
Tucker Carlson: The jury was intimidated by protests > **[Tucker Carlson says protests intimidated Derek Chauvin jury into guilty...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/21/tucker-carlson-chauvin-floyd-guilty-jury/)** > > Tucker Carlson argued that jurors were intimidated by Black Lives Matter protesters into finding former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of George Floyd's murder. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/713 "2021-04-21T13:43:01Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > There was video of the Rodney King beating and the jury acquitted the cops because they were cops. Rodney King didn’t die. ETA: Well, of course I know he did die, many years later. He drowned in his own pool in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/714 "2021-04-21T13:43:18Z")
I think we need to give BLM protesters credit in changing the US national zeitgeist into one that would return a guilty verdict. While Carlson rails against this as “intimidation” its just a shift in the socital acceptance of police sadism. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/715 "2021-04-21T13:46:16Z")
I note WaPo did not activate comments on that story. Probably wise. Of course, it makes one wonder why generic anonymous commenting is even a thing on news stories. They are inevitably a cesspool. But that’s a hijack here. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/716 "2021-04-21T13:48:21Z")
And Carlson cut the audio on a retired LEO who was supportive of the verdict and changes to policing. But that’s not cancel culture or censorship, when Tucker does it. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/717 "2021-04-21T13:59:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Systemic racism is constantly deluging us with the messages “this is normal, this was an isolated incident, the individual victim should have behaved differently, few bad apples”, and so on and so forth. Right. I strongly recommend anyone who is in the “few bad apples” camp to read _Stamped from the Beginning_ by Ibram X. Kendi. I bet it’s available at your local library for free! ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/718 "2021-04-21T14:14:38Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Police officers are trained to maintain control of an encounter, and taught that doing otherwise is dangerous. For an officer to grant polite requests is not a big deal, but acceding to angry demands from arrestees or bystanders is, in an officer’s mind, tantamount to a dangerous loss of control - _even when those demands are totally reasonable_ . The outcome is the same - Chauvin felt a need to project power over both Floyd and the crowd, and not let the crowd believe they had any control over what was happening, even as it because obvious to him that he was indeed killing Floyd (because shit, how could it _not_ have been obvious after several minutes of silence from Floyd??) - but the motive may have been less about Chauvin indulging in a self-gratifying exercise of power and more about following that “maintain control at all times” training. A smarter officer would have realized that continuing to dangerously kneel on Floyd’s neck in slavish adherence to that training was bad, and that listening to the crowd (and admitting they were right) would have been the smart thing to do. This is why police training should not be considered a defense against wrongful actions. Police officers should be as accountable for their actions as all of us. More pithily: “I was just following training” is as culpable as “I was just following orders”. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/719 "2021-04-21T14:21:39Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > The only time I served on a jury, it was for a murder trial (in Minnesota if it matters). As I recall the judge’s statements about premeditation that if the offender had paused, or had a chance to pause, and then continued, it’s premeditated (as @nelliebly stated). It doesn’t have to start before the action, or the day before, but can occur during the offence. When another officer asked Chauvin to consider moving him to the side and Chauvin refused, that is the moment George Floyd’s murder became premeditated. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024/720 "2021-04-21T14:32:31Z")
FWIW, the DOJ just announced that it will be looking into the policing practices of MPD. > **[Attorney General Merrick Garland announces probe of Minneapolis Police...](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/21/garland-to-announce-doj-probe-of-minneapolis-police-after-chauvin-verdict.html)** > > The announcement comes one day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted by a jury of the murder of George Floyd. One bite at a time … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minnesota-trial-of-derek-chauvin-killer-of-george-floyd-reactions/939024.md?page=37)