The Supreme Court denied former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s appeal of a lower-court ruling sentencing him to more than 20 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.

Chauvin’s legal team filed the appeal last week, arguing that the Minnesota cop’s trial was held during a contentious time in the country, leading to concerns about the jury’s impartiality. The High Court rejected Chauvin’s writ of certiorari in an order issued Monday.

“Mr. Chauvin’s case shows the profound difficulties trial courts have to ensure a criminal defendant’s right to an impartial jury consistently when extreme cases arise,” the defense told the Supreme Court at the time of the appeal. “This was particularly true here when the jurors themselves had a vested interest in finding Mr. Chauvin guilty in order to avoid further rioting in the community in which they lived and the possible threat of physical harm to them or their families.”

Chauvin’s counsel previously argued his trial should have been held in a court outside Minneapolis, given the extensive pre-trial publicity surrounding Floyd’s death and the subsequent Black Lives Matter riots and protests in summer 2020.

Chauvin is currently serving his 22.5-year sentence, after a Minnesota court’s jury found him guilty of second and third-degree murder in April 2021. The Minnesota Court of Appeals and the state supreme court both upheld the lower-court ruling before the case was raised before the U.S. Supreme Court this month.

On May 25, 2020, a viral video showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck as the suspect struggled to breathe. The incident, which occurred after Floyd was arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill, provoked widespread unrest across the U.S. at the time, leading to calls for racial justice and hostility toward police.

Recently, a Minneapolis medical examiner concluded methamphetamine and fentanyl use may have also contributed to Floyd’s death.