Reading about the unjust prosecution and imprisonment of Tommy Robinson in the UK, my initial thought was, “I’m glad it doesn’t happen here.” But then it occurred to me that it does happen here in the worst possible way. Take a look at the arbitrary treatment of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin—a scapegoat to leftist politics.
Chauvin has gone down in American history as the murderer of George Floyd. Chauvin is serving a 22.5-year state sentence for murder and a 21-year federal sentence for violating George Floyd’s civil rights. The sentences are being served concurrently. His projected release date is in 2037. He is serving his time in a federal prison. Chauvin is a political prisoner who fell victim to social justice activism and media-induced mob hysteria.
At the time of Floyd’s death, the criminal Marxist enterprise known as Black Lives Matter was given a lot of attention in the media. The main allegation of BLM is the false narrative that cops are running around killing blacks. For BLM, this lie is proven by the smallest racial incident. “This is why one black man being beaten by police could trigger a massive riot,” said black author Shelby Steele in an attempt to explain how an isolated incident of alleged police brutality in Minneapolis caused massive demonstrations throughout the nation and the world.
George Floyd has been portrayed as a saint who racist cops deliberately murdered. The reality is very different. Instead of making him into a hero, the media would be doing us a favor by acknowledging that America is better off without Floyd. He was a vicious thug with a long record of violent offenses. Floyd served eight jail terms on various charges and in 2007 he faced charges for aggravated robbery where Floyd held a pistol to a woman's stomach. What a saint! He stood 6 feet 4 inches and weighed in at more than 220 pounds. Derek Chauvin weighed 140 pounds. Put yourself in the shoes of the police officers tasked with arresting this savage giant.
Derek Chauvin had the misfortune of walking into the middle of a charged atmosphere when he and three other officers arrested Floyd on suspicion of using a counterfeit 20-dollar bill. Floyd resisted the efforts of the officers to get him into a police car. They managed to take him to the ground and handcuff him. The allegation at trial was that Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. For part of the time, two other officers knelt on Floyd's back. Floyd is alleged to have said, “I can’t breathe.” It is important to be aware that knee-to-neck restraints were allowed in Minnesota.
Dr. Vik Bebarta, an emergency physician and toxicologist, and others testified that Floyd could have been saved if officers had moved him into a position to breathe more easily. Another narrative emerged that Floyd died because of a drug overdose. According to the official autopsy, substances in Floyd’s system included a mixture of fentanyl, methamphetamine, marijuana compound, nicotine metabolites, and caffeine. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of many who believed that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death. “I strongly support Derek Chauvin being pardoned and released from prison,” Greene said, “George Floyd died of a drug overdose.”
A defense medical expert, Dr. David Fowler, contradicted the conclusion made by the medical examiner that homicide was the cause of Floyd’s death. When asked whether Chauvin’s knee “impacted the structures of Mr. Floyd’s neck,” Fowler replied, “No, it did not. None of the vital structures were in the area where the knee appeared to be from the videos.” Fowler testified that the manner of Floyd’s death should be classified as “undetermined” rather than “homicide.”
After the trial, Kansas pathologist Dr. William Schaetzel expressed the belief that Floyd died from complications of a rare tumor called a paraganglioma that can cause a fatal surge of adrenaline. Chauvin claimed that no jury would have convicted him if Schaetzel’s testimony had been heard.
It was never proved that Chauvin did it. Given the differences of opinion as to the cause of death, it is difficult to conclude with any degree of certainty that Chauvin and the other officers were responsible. It is equally plausible to conclude that Chauvin was trying to do his job under the most stressful conditions, for which Floyd must bear some of the responsibility. That did not stop the jury from issuing a conviction. Because of the political pressure, the actual cause of Floyd’s death didn’t matter. The public wanted a scapegoat, and they got one.
Statements by a juror in the case suggest that the jury system may have failed. During a local Minneapolis television interview, juror Brandon Mitchell said that jury duty should be a means to promote societal change. Former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes said it looks like Mitchell wanted to be on that jury for the wrong reasons. “He talks a lot about social change,” Hakes said. “That is not what the justice system is for. It is incredibly serious to take someone’s liberty away from them with the power of the state. We have to have impartial jurors, and it certainly looks as though we didn’t here.”
Mitchell lied during jury selection when he said he never attended a George Floyd protest. He later admitted that he attended a march for Floyd wearing a T-shirt that said, “Get your knee off our necks.” Jurors were under oath to ensure Chauvin would get a fair trial. Instead, he was railroaded to appease the social justice mob.
Footage of the event sparked weeks of global protests against alleged police brutality and racism. Mitchell and the other jurors were exposed to what has been described as “overwhelming pretrial publicity damning Mr. Chauvin.” Threats were issued that a new outbreak of disturbances would occur in the event of an acquittal. It is highly unlikely that any jury could be objective after Chauvin was convicted in the court of public opinion.
Chauvin’s lawyer requested a new trial after Mitchell’s confession. “The jury committed misconduct, felt threatened or intimidated, felt race-based pressure during the proceedings, and/or failed to adhere to instructions during deliberations,” argued the defense attorney, “in violation of Mr. Chauvin’s constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial.” The court denied the request.
Mitchell’s statements expose serious questions about Chauvin’s conviction. A jury's purpose is to determine a single individual's guilt or innocence, not to be used as a vehicle for social change. Chauvin was sacrificed in the name of social justice. His personal guilt or innocence was subservient to the real issue at trial, namely, whether America is guilty of systemic racism as alleged by Black Lives Matter. The pressure on the jury to bring in a guilty verdict was overwhelming.
Chauvin was the victim of the mass hysteria surrounding George Floyd. How could anyone get a fair trial under these circumstances? If Chauvin was guilty of excessive treatment of Floyd, departmental discipline was the appropriate punishment, not languishing in jail for 22 years. While serving his sentence at the FCI Tucson prison, Chauvin was stabbed 22 times with a shank by another inmate. He has suffered enough. We don’t need political prisoners in America. The president should issue a well-deserved pardon for the federal offenses. Governor Walz should issue a pardon for the state convictions, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Ed Brodow is a conservative political commentator and author of ten books, including two No. 1 Amazon Best Sellers, AMERICA ON ITS KNEES: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden, and THE WAR ON WHITES: How Hating White People Became the New National Sport.