Will a manslaughter conviction appease the rioters and looters?

William Jacobson of the blog Legal Insurrection believes Officer Derek Chauvin will be convicted of manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Jacobson was interviewed on a radio program.

It may have been excessive use of force. He maybe shouldn’t have had pressure on his back and chest for that long, but the concept of the knee to the neck that we hear every single day over and over again is not factually correct. The prosecution’s own witnesses have acknowledged that and the cause of death by their expert witnesses is not the knee pressure to the neck.

It is the overall restraint of him in the prone position with weight on his back which made it impossible for him to inhale. That’s the cause of death. According to them, it’s not the cutting of blood to the neck. I don’t think the any municipality is ready because the general public and particularly the public who wants a conviction here is convinced of something that’s not true, that there was a knee to the neck for nine minutes. And I think that the media has played a part in this as they always do. And I think that anything short of conviction on all counts is going to erupt in rioting.

You know, if I had to bet, I’d say they’re going to convict him of manslaughter. I forget the specific wording of the statute, but it’s essentially, you know, if you, in a grossly negligent way, put somebody in a position that you know, death is reasonably foreseeable that you’re guilty, even if you didn’t intend it to happen. And I think that’s what it’s going to be. The second degree murder is not as many people are saying intentional, you know, nothing to do with intent. It’s basically a felony murder charge that you kill somebody unlawfully in the course of committing another crime. And I don’t know what that other crime would be here. You know, some sort of unlawful assault, but the defense use of force witnesses have already said that it was okay to take him to the ground and it was okay to put him in the prone position.

Read more here: https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/04/chauvin-trial-jury-has-a-basis-to-find-reasonable-doubt-here-but-its-not-what-im-expecting/#more-350787