Archive: 2021/04/23

The major national criminal law news of the week was the murder conviction of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes while arresting him for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store.  The jury’s verdict followed a trial that lasted nearly two weeks and included testimony from witnesses ranging from bystanders who filmed the incident and pleaded for Floyd’s life to the chief of the Minneapolis Police Department.  Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, spoke with the PBS NewsHour about what the verdict meant for his family and the wider movement to eliminate racial disparities in policing.  Keep reading for more news.

This post summarizes published criminal decisions released by the North Carolina Court of Appeals on April 20, 2021.

In my previous post, I wrote about the importance of and legal support for inquiring into prospective jurors’ perspectives on race and racial bias, which may include the Black Lives Matter movement. Let’s imagine that a potential juror expresses a favorable opinion of Black Lives Matter and also states that she can remain impartial and follow the judge’s instructions. If there is an attempt to remove that juror from the pool for cause based on her Black Lives Matter support, should it be sustained? Would it violate Batson to strike a juror on this basis? This post considers those questions.