Chauvin's Trial

 In a free society people accused of crimes deserve a fair trial irrespective of whether they are guilty or innocent. I believe Derek Chauvin was guilty of at least manslaughter. I also believe he did not get a fair trial. For whatever reason, perhaps over worries about polls showing an unusually large percentage of black voters liking Trump, perhaps for some other purpose, leftists and their public relations people in the traditional media decided to make George Floyd BLM’s Horst Wessel.  His death was used as an excuse for rioting and looting, and as  the triggering event for a massive campaign pushing the false notion of “systemic racism” in America.

Chauvin’s  trial was held in Minneapolis where some of the worst riots had happened after Floyd’s death. It was commonly understood that an acquittal would lead to more riots and looting. Businesses around the city boarded up their widows and doors as a precaution against attacks by violent mobs. In such circumstances it would have been good to move the trial to another venue where jurors could have been selected from a pool of people with less reason to believe their lives and property would be in danger if they made an unpopular decision.  That was not done.

Failing that and given that the danger of riots was well known, and that people in the traditional media and politicians from the execrable Keith Ellison to the President of the United States were publicly demanding a verdict of guilty, and a member of the congress was in town inciting rioting, it surely would have been a good idea to sequester the jurors and isolate them from things going on outside the courtroom.  That was not done either.

I have no idea if these things will get Chauvin a new trial on appeal, but there are lawyers who think they could.  The leftists did things they did not need to do. I think Chauvin would have been convicted in a fair trial leaving no valid arguments for an appeal. There was no need to railroad him and to turn his case into a political show trial. The politicians and their supporters in the media went too far and may have created a backlash of sympathy for a person whose behavior deserved no sympathy. Even worse  there are people on the Trumpist side whose notions of proper political action are somewhat similar to those of BLM and Antifa. This may have given some of them a Horst Wessel of their own. You never want to manufacture martyrs for you enemies.