The summer of fiery but peaceful that ended in ruined cities, billions of dollars in damage, the deaths of innocent citizens, multiple state funerals in the middle of a pandemic for an abusive petty thief who died of a mixed fentanyl and other drugs overdose...
...Nelson also cited the autopsy conducted on Floyd that found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system, a combination of drugs Nelson says is known as a speedball. He noted that the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's post-mortem report showed Floyd had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, hypertension and sickle cell trait. Floyd also purportedly told the officers that he had contracted COVID-19 and was still positive for the virus at the time of his death, a claim confirmed by his autopsy.
...and the martyrdom of a police officer unfortunate enough to be tagged as the murderer of said overdose victim is still pretty fresh in the minds of some people.
Derek Chauvin was the Minneapolis police officer who went to prison on a murder conviction for restraining George Floyd with what he claimed had been a department-approved restraint hold after being called with other officers to the residence for a domestic incident.
...Nelson contends Chauvin acted on his training from the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in the use of a "Maximal Restraint Technique" and did so out of concern that Floyd might harm himself or the officers struggling to arrest him.
The Minneapolis Police Department policy on "Maximal Restraint Technique" says it "shall only be used in situations where handcuffed subjects are combative and still pose a threat to themselves, officers or others, or could cause significant damage to property if not properly restrained."
Nelson also included Minneapolis Police Department training materials on the proper use of the "Maximal Restraint Technique," in which photos show demonstrations of officers simulating putting their knee on a handcuffed subject's neck. Nelson argued the training material appeared to contradict a statement made shortly after the incident by Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo that he had not seen "anything that says you place your knee on someone's neck when they're facedown, handcuffed."
Despite the overwhelming evidence that Chauvin had indeed properly used a technique he'd been taught that was approved by the Minneapolis Police Department, with accompanying documents to prove it, the MN Assistant Chief of Police said, 'What Maximal Restraint Technique?' during her testimony.
'Never heard of it.'
After Chauvin's sham of a show trial, his conviction, and being hauled away to satisfy the howling mob, the indefatigable defense team, the magnificent local news outlet Alpha News, and others kept after the truth.
As David wrote in January of last year, direct evidence emerged that police officers had contradicted the Assistant Police Chief's trial testimony and signed their names to the same.
...While most people think that Floyd was asphyxiated, the reality is that there is no evidence that this is true. Quite the opposite--Floyd COULD breathe and showed no signs of asphyxia; rather, he had fatal doses of methamphetamine and fentanyl in his bloodstream because he swallowed his drug stash to hide it from the police.
MPD Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell testified under oath that the restraint method used on George Floyd was never taught by the department, while dozens of officers have denied this, training manuals showed it, and now photographs of the training have been uncovered.
Blackwell is suing Liz Collins for defamation, but there is a problem.
In a court filing over a dozen officers have provided sworn statements that Blackwell lied during the trial, and her lies are pretty obvious.
WATCH: Alpha News reporter @lizcollin confronts Minneapolis Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell after dozens of police officers signed sworn declarations saying they were trained in MRT.
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) January 7, 2025
14 former and current officers say they believe Blackwell committed perjury during Derek… pic.twitter.com/kQz30WKRjS
That same stalwart Liz Collin is back now with another Derek Chauvin update that would almost seem to be a fantastic fabrication, were one to have no prior knowledge of the foul deeds surrounding this officer's railroading.
But it's Minnesota, and it's looking all too possible.
The teaser that broke yesterday is a jaw-dropper, and they also state that he now has evidence that Governor Tim Walz and MN Attorney General Keith Ellison worked together to make sure Chauvin was charged with murder to satisfy their bloodthirsty constituencies and, I would have to guess, knowing the two of them by their rhetoric, for their own personal satisfaction.
What a great tick mark on the progressive resume - orchestrating a white cop being figuratively hanged for the murder of a black man.
Oh, they rode that rocket.
But it seems, according to Chauvin's defense attorney, Greg Joseph, they skipped over a vital step or two in the rush to pre-judgment.
🚨BREAKING: Derek Chauvin’s attorney seeks dismissal in a new bombshell court filing alleging ‘illegal’ and ‘fraudulent’ conduct by Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) August 18, 2026
Chauvin’s attorney, Greg Joseph, argues a grand jury… pic.twitter.com/baF5VdeDKu
...Chauvin’s attorney, Greg Joseph, argues a grand jury was never convened to review the charges. “Because Hennepin County’s unlawful charges against Mr. Chauvin were not severe enough for the mob, Walz referred the case to Keith Ellison, who signed and e-filed a second unfounded complaint against Derek Chauvin that included the murder charge.”
Biden's Justice Department got guilty pleas on the federal charges against Derek Chauvin...
The Justice Department announced today that former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, 46, was sentenced to serve 252 months in prison with credit for time served for depriving George Floyd Jr. and a then-14-year-old child of their constitutional rights.
On Dec. 15, 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty in federal court to violating a federal criminal civil rights statute on two separate occasions. First, Chauvin pleaded guilty to willfully depriving Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, resulting in Mr. Floyd’s bodily injury and death. In the plea documents, Chauvin agreed that the sentencing for this crime should be based on the sentence for second-degree murder because he acted willfully and in callous and wanton disregard of the consequences to Mr. Floyd’s life.
Chauvin also pleaded guilty to willfully depriving a then-14-year-old child of his constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, resulting in the child’s bodily injury.
“In no uncertain terms, George Floyd should be alive today,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Defendant Chauvin’s use of excessive force and his failure to provide medical care resulted in Mr. Floyd’s senseless murder. Chauvin’s unlawful actions in a separate incident also resulted in injury to a 14-year-old child. This sentence should send a strong message that the Justice Department stands ready to prosecute law enforcement officers who use deadly force without basis. While no amount of prison time can reverse the tragic consequences of Derek Chauvin’s violent actions, we hope that this sentence provides some small measure of justice for the families and communities impacted.”
...but there was never a grand jury impaneled to return indictments to issue them.
Literally, Ellison e-filed the state murder charge but never had a grand jury indictment for Chauvin.
Due process in all of this was nowhere to be found.
BOOM 💥
— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) August 19, 2026
Atty's for Derek Chauvin say Tim Walz & Keith Ellison violated state law by not submitting the case to a Grand Jury which denied Chauvin his due process
Chauvin didn't kill George Floyd, the autopsy said Fentynal did and he's still sitting in prison
Trump can pardon… pic.twitter.com/tpY1LZB4pN
The ONLY way this was found was that Chauvin's new defense attorney realized, as he started from scratch, going through the records, and was already, as he said, filing numerous motions because of due process violations during the trial, that this was something so basic he was 'stunned.'
Joseph says it's easy to miss how basic this is because everyone on the defense team runs on the assumption that the process has been followed and starts from there. Never do they anticipate running across 'actors like these.'
If the charges are illegal to begin with, which these are by virtue of no due process whatsoever, everything that came afterward is also illegal.
The original Hennepin County charges were preferred not by a grand jury, but by a District Court judge who found probable cause. Those charges weren't considered 'severe enough' for Tim Walz and his wife's tire-burning friends, so he assigned it to AG Ellison, which is all perfectly legal. But the conveyance of authority only applies in cases where indictment by a grand jury is required.
UH-OH
Without that county grand jury indictment, Walz lacked the authority to assign it to Ellison. And everything Ellison did was null and void without it.
This is a gobsmacking but wholly believable turn of events. And hopeful.
It is going to be something else to watch it shake out with everything else going on in that state right now.
Beege ADDS: I found the longer interview with Liz and Greg Joseph if you have time. I really like this lawyer - he's awful sharp.
But seriously - isn't that who we'd all want?
