The Chauvin team’s attempts for a retrial are going nowhere

Despite (bad) appearances, I think there is less here than meets the eye. I covered the trial from jury selection through the verdict. My notes on Mitchell’s responses to Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson during jury selection reflect Mitchell’s view of the case at that point. He wondered why officers didn’t interrupt Chauvin’s conduct before Floyd’s death. I think that was a fair question. My notes further reflect Mitchell’s ‘very favorable view’ of Black Lives Matter and his statement supporting the view that racially discriminatory misconduct takes place ‘well beyond what the media can report’. Mitchell also stated during jury selection that he wanted to serve on the jury because he ‘would love to be a part of this historic case’. If Mitchell’s previous statements didn’t raise a red flag for Nelson, I thought the last statement should have. Each of these statements is consistent with Mitchell’s t-shirt. I think Nelson exercised poor judgment accepting him as a juror on the case. Chao Xiong quoted Mitchell on his attendance at the anniversary march in Washington in his Star Tribune story this week when the photo was posted online. Xiong quoted two questions on the juror questionnaire that all prospective jurors completed before jury selection at trial...