Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison warned against rushing the prosecution of now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was charged with third-degree murder after the death of George Floyd.
“To ask people to be patient, who have suffered so long and been denied justice so long, is really asking a lot of them, but if you want to make sure that this case results in a successful prosecution, you’ve got to understand the defense attorneys who are going to be on the other side are very skillful, and they will try to break every single link in the prosecutorial chain, so I ask people, don’t rush this thing, let’s get this thing right,” he told Fox News Sunday.
Ellison’s comments come after public demand for stronger charges against Chauvin and the three other officers involved in the detainment of Floyd, an unarmed black man, last week. Floyd died after Chauvin placed his knee on his neck to restrain him to the point where he was unable to breathe. Chauvin and the others involved were subsequently fired.
In addition to third-degree murder, which can carry up to a 25-year prison sentence in Minnesota, Chauvin was charged with second-degree manslaughter. Ellison said the case is still very young, and it’s “additional charges or even higher charges” may come.
“We are very early in this process, very early,” Ellison said. “It is not uncommon to amend charges. It is not uncommon to add defendants. The fact is the investigation is still going on, and it actually is in the middle of the investigation or maybe even the beginning of the middle, and so I don’t want anyone to conclude that these are all the charges that are going to be there.”
Floyd’s death in police custody has led to large, violent protests across the country. The unrest has prompted citywide curfews in several metropolitan areas and many states to unleash their National Guard to control the situation.
