Comments that Rep. Maxine Waters made shortly before a Minneapolis jury convicted Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd may help the former police officer in an appeal.

Waters, speaking to reporters over the weekend, said that protesters should “stay on the street” and “get more confrontational” if Chauvin were acquitted. The comments from the California Democrat provoked widespread controversy at the time, as well as a rebuke from Peter Cahill, the judge in the case.