Under normal conditions, I’m not a fan of using the criminal law to punish police officers who make fatal mistakes. The job is just too difficult, and there are other, more appropriate remedies available to protect the public. In George Floyd’s case, however, even the right was shocked by the callousness of the violence. The killing was murder, and should be punished as such.
I wish Chauvin had taken the stand, so the prosecutor could have asked him at what point he planned to take his knee off the guy’s neck. If the answer, as I suspect, was when Floyd was totally immobilized, how would he be able to tell the difference between that and death? Inquiring minds want to know!
If Chauvin is somehow acquitted, the black community is going to take it as a signal that police officers can get away with murder as long as the victim is a minority, and will respond accordingly. That conclusion won’t be exactly accurate; the guy has been fired, and the government has paid a huge settlement to Floyd’s estate, so a deterrence factor is still in place. It is true enough, however, for the concern to be perfectly legitimate.
As far as I know, Chauvin has never expressed the slightest regret for what he did. He needs to go down. Today.