Chauvin Murder Trial: The Prosecution’s Reckless Gambit

On Tuesday afternoon, in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, the state called a use-of-force expert from out of town, Sergeant Jody Stiger of the Los Angeles Police Department, to opine that the former police officer used excessive force in applying a neck hold that, he believes, caused the death of George Floyd.

I’ll have more to say in a separate post about the state’s case and the effort by Chauvin’s counsel to dismantle it. For now, let’s turn to the prosecution’s suggestion that counterfeiting is not a serious offense, and therefore that the method of detaining Floyd was necessarily excessive since, on this theory, he should not have been arrested in the first place. This prosecution gambit is simultaneously reckless and underhanded.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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On Tuesday afternoon, in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, the state called a use-of-force expert from out of town, Sergeant Jody Stiger of the Los Angeles Police Department, to opine that the former police officer used excessive force in applying a neck hold that, he believes, caused the death of George Floyd.

I’ll have more to say in a separate post about the state’s case and the effort by Chauvin’s counsel to dismantle it. For now, let’s turn to the prosecution’s suggestion that counterfeiting is not a serious offense, and therefore that the method of detaining Floyd was necessarily excessive since, on this theory, he should not have been arrested in the first place. This prosecution gambit is simultaneously reckless and underhanded.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.