Star Tribune
Derek Chauvin can test George Floyd’s heart tissue samples as he appeals his federal civil rights conviction
Derek Chauvin’s legal team will be permitted to examine heart tissue and fluid samples taken from George Floyd’s autopsy for an appeal of the former Minneapolis officer’s federal civil rights conviction based on a medical theory that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson on Monday granted a motion from Chauvin to inspect the evidence as part of a claim that a heart condition, and not Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck, killed Floyd during a May 2020 police encounter that sparked widespread civil unrest.
Chauvin, who is serving state and federal prison sentences in excess of 20 years, is seeking to overturn his 2022 federal civil rights conviction over “ineffective assistance of counsel.” Chauvin is arguing that his original defense attorney, Eric Nelson, failed to inform him that a forensic pathologist based in Topeka, Kan., told Nelson he did not think Chauvin caused Floyd’s death.
Chauvin added that Nelson failed to seek testing of heart tissue samples that Dr. William Schaetzel believed would show evidence of a heart condition called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
A person takes photographs of a mural in memory of George Floyd with flowers and other memorial items below, on a wall of the Cup Foods store at the corner of Chicago Avenue and East 38th Street, Friday, May 29, 2020, in Minneapolis. Protests over the death of Floyd in Minneapolis police custody have spread to other areas across the United States. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP) (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times/The Associated Press)
“Given the significant nature of the criminal case that Mr. Chauvin was convicted of, and given that the discovery that Mr. Chauvin seeks could support Dr. Schaetzel’s opinion of how Mr. Floyd died, the Court finds that there is good cause to allow Mr. Chauvin to take the discovery that he seeks,” Magnuson wrote in Monday’s order.
Manguson wrote that Chauvin’s defense team may take discovery of any histology slides of Floyd’s heart, tissue samples of his heart, tissue blocks containing heart tissue from Floyd and recut sections of all autopsy tissue slides relating to his heart.
Chauvin’s lawyers are also allowed to inspect and make copies of any photographs taken of Floyd’s heart and they can take quantities of certain fluids for testing.
Nelson no longer represents Chauvin. Chauvin’s appeal is now being handled by Robert Meyers, an assistant federal defender in Minneapolis.
Star Tribune
A two-vehicle crash Monday morning in a Minneapolis neighborhood has left at least one person dead and other injured, officials said.
The vehicle on Emerson was occupied by a man and a woman, and they were taken by emergency medical responders to a hospital with critical injuries.
Lolo Samuelson told the Star Tribune she was walking to the store when she came upon the crash scene moments after impact.
She said one of the vehicles slammed into a Metro Transit bus stop, while the other ended up in a yard at the intersection. On the pavement was someone who was at the shelter when it was struck, she said.
Samuelson, 18, said she approached the station and saw a vehicle was on fire with one person inside “who wasn’t moving or anything like that. A lady, she was making noises, so I knew she was alive.”
Samuelson said she didn’t hesitate before going up to the burning vehicle.
“In that type of situation, you just want to make sure people are going to be OK,” she said. “Just give me a sign that you’re still responsive, that you’re still here.”
Some Minnesota Democrats are planning to attend the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony of President-Elect Donald Trump, but others plan to sit it out or are still weighing whether to attend.
Trump’s inauguration will coincide with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, a fierce critic of Trump, told Axios she plans to attend MLK events that day instead. “Why risk any chaos that might be up here?” the Minnesota Democrat said.
Omar won’t be the only Democrat ditching Trump’s inauguration. Axios reports that more than a dozen other congressional Democrats will not go.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the bipartisan Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, plans to attend Trump’s inauguration. The committee she leads is responsible for planning the event, working on everything from picking the inaugural theme to choosing who gets a speaker slot on inauguration day.
Rep. Angie Craig’s office confirmed she plans to attend Trump’s inauguration, as does incoming Rep. Kelly Morrison.
Sen. Tina Smith’s office said the senator is still finalizing her schedule and does not yet know if she will attend.
Rep. Betty McCollum is also still weighing whether to attend, but if she does not go, it will be for logistical reasons, her office said.
Minnesota’s four Republican members of Congress backed Trump’s 2024 White House and all four plan to attend.
Star Tribune
3 years in juvenile facility for Twin Cities teen who fatally shot 16-year-old with ‘ghost gun’
A 17-year-old has admitted that he fatally shot a 16-year-old boy in a New Hope home with a “ghost gun” and was sentenced as a juvenile to a state facility for three years.
Anthony Freebird Wirtjes pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to second-degree manslaughter stemming from the shooting of Keair Marquis Reed, 16, of Chaska, on Sept. 18 in Wirtjes’ home in the 6000 block of N. Quebec Avenue. Reed, who was shot in the eye, died on Sept. 24.
Wirtjes will be housed at the Minnesota Correctional Facility for juveniles in Red Wing until Jan. 9, 2028, when he turns 21.
Cary Reed said in an online fund-raising effort on behalf of the family that his son “did not deserve to have his life taken at such a young age. He had goals and dreams to become a architect. He was fun-loving, protective and a very respectful child [who] leaves behind four brothers and a sister.”
A police firearms examiner tested the 9-millimeter firearm, called a ghost gun because it lacked a serial number and was assembled with parts bought together in a kit or in separate transactions, according to the charges. The examiner found it had a “binary trigger,” meaning it fired when the trigger was squeezed and also when it was released, effectively doubling the rate of fire.
In June, Gov. Tim Walz signed legislation addressing gun violence that included a ban on binary triggers. It takes effect on Jan. 1.
The felon who killed three Burnsville first responders and wounded another in February had a large arsenal in his home — allegedly purchased by his girlfriend as a straw buyer — that included a .300-caliber semiautomatic firearm equipped with a binary trigger.
