Derek Chauvin, Scapegoat The ritual the convicted Minneapolis police officer was subjected to was less a legal trial than a sort of pagan sacrifice. By Roger Kimball
https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/26/derek-chauvin-scapegoat/
EXCERPT
Back in March, I wrote wondering whether Chauvin could get a fair trial in Hennepin County. I didn’t think so and laid out the reasons. Chauvin’s conviction a month later on all charges—unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter—strengthened my skepticism. Chauvin, a nearly 20-year police veteran who was cited for bravery multiple times (he also racked up at least 17 civilian complaints), may have used excessive force trying to subdue Floyd, who had serious cardiac problems, was high on fentanyl and other substances, and was probably in a state of excited delirium while he was resisting arrest. But was Chauvin guilty of second- or third-degree murder?
As I said at the time, it didn’t matter. George Floyd’s death was the catalyst that lit a holocaust. All across America, cities were burning. Derek Chauvin was the victim offered up to the gods in expiation. The ritual he was subjected to was less a legal trial than a sort of pagan sacrifice.
The expected penalty for the charges Chauvin was convicted of is 11-12 years. Peter Cahill, the judge in the case, said that “prosecutors had proven there were aggravating factors in the case that called for a tougher sentence.” What were those “aggravating factors”? You or I might think the explosive situation in Minneapolis and other “progressive” redoubts was part of the story. Judge Cahill cited Chauvin’s callousness and disregard for Floyd. Similarly, after sentencing Chauvin, Judge Cahill insisted that his harsh sentence was “not based on public opinion. I am not basing it on any attempt to send any messages. The job of a trial judge is to apply the law to specific facts.” Indeed it is. How did Judge Cahill do?
One friend, a lawyer who is knowledgeable about the case, told me that while he thought the prosecution mounted a strong case, it was also a battle between David and Goliath and David lost. Chauvin and his one attorney were totally outgunned by the prosecution. The verdict was a foregone conclusion.
Another friend touched on what seems to me to be an essential point. Yes, the sentence was grotesquely disproportionate, he said, but remember: Chauvin, although charged only in the Floyd death, is also being sentenced “for all the ones who got away”: Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the police officers involved in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Officer Daniel Pantaleo who was implicated in the death of Eric Garner in New York, etc. In every case, the media attack on the police was ferocious. But also in every case juries or other authorities found that the deaths were justifiable homicides.
The case of Derek Chauvin was different. For one thing, there was that video showing Chauvin leaning on Floyd’s shoulder with his knee, pressing him to the ground for nine minutes. But there was also the racially charged hysteria that was coruscating through American society. The message was clear: convict or else.
I wonder what Derek Chauvin thought about over breakfast on May 25, 2020. He could not have known that in just a few hours his career would be ended and his life forever blighted because he was too zealous in attempting to restrain a clearly intoxicated man who was resisting arrest. Neither could those two Greeks or those two Gauls in the aftermath of Cannae have had any inkling of what was about to befall them. They were just unlucky sacrificial victims. Isaac, at least, was reprieved at the last moment. I doubt there will be any hidden rams coming to save Derek Chauvin.
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