Judge must reconsider third-degree murder charge in Derek Chauvin case, appeals court rules

A court of appeals decided on Friday that the judge presiding over former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial must reconsider tacking on a third-degree murder charge, which was dropped in October.

Prosecutors initially added the count to Chauvin’s charges after he was seen on video kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes in late May. Floyd lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. On Oct. 22, Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill sided with Chauvin’s defense team and dropped the offense, but he retained the second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.