My view was presented in the "I can't breathe thread" earlier today, about 15 threads down.
Which stays with my view from the other day.
The prosecutor has made a smart move. As I said the other day Minn law lets the judge instruct the jury that they can convict on a lower charge if needed. At least that is what I saw generally, unless there is a specific carve-out for homicide which I doubt.
After some research this is my belief for the rationale based on legal discussions I have found:
Murder 3 in MINN:
As the state’s highest court stated in
State v. Barnes (2006), unlike other forms of murder, “[d]epraved mind murder … cannot occur where the defendant’s actions were focused on a specific person.”
Long story short, Murder 3 is truly for unintentional death with actions not directed to a specific person.(firing gun in crowd, drunk driving)
Murder 2:
"Minnesota law defines unintentional second-degree murder as unintentionally causing the death of another while committing a felony offense—something often referred to as “felony murder.”
The argument goes like this: Chauvin’s use of forceful restraint on a handcuffed, prone, and unresponsive man suffering from clear cardiovascular distress was an unjustified use of force under state law. This was not just an excessive use of force for which he could be fired, but a crime of either first- or third-degree assault.
If Chauvin’s criminal assault played a causal role in Floyd’s death (and it appears it did), then he is guilty of felony murder, even if he did not intend for his assault to kill Floyd."
THEREFORE, based on my reading of these issues, the DA CANNOT charge Chauvin with Murder 3 and had to either elevate it to Murder 2 or lower it to Man2.
Since there is no good environment to LOWER the charges, they were elevated to MURDER 2.
Thus I do not believe there can be any charges for Murder 3 at all in this case.
"In layman’s terms, then, this means that—at least in Minnesota—if the state can prove Chauvin committed felony assault against Floyd, and that Floyd died as a result, then Chauvin is guilty of unintentional second-degree murder."