Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin is seeking to overturn his federal civil rights conviction in the murder of George Floyd, claiming new evidence suggests he did not cause Floyd's death. In a motion filed on Monday, Chauvin argued that he would not have pleaded guilty to the charge in 2021 had he been aware of the theories put forward by a Kansas pathologist. Chauvin is now requesting the judge to either dismiss his conviction and order a new trial, or at least hold an evidentiary hearing.

The incident in question occurred on May 25, 2020, when Floyd, a Black man, died while Chauvin, a white officer, kneeled on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes outside a convenience store. The video footage captured Floyd's anguished cries of "I can't breathe," igniting widespread protests and sparking a global movement against police brutality and racial injustice.

Chauvin, currently serving a 21-year sentence at a federal prison in Arizona, filed the motion without legal representation. He asserts that Dr. William Schaetzel, a pathologist from Topeka, Kansas, informed him that Floyd's cause of death was not asphyxia resulting from Chauvin's actions, but rather complications from a rare tumor called a paraganglioma, which can cause a fatal adrenaline surge. Although Schaetzel did not personally examine Floyd's body, he reviewed the autopsy reports. Schaetzel stated that he reached out to Chauvin because he felt compelled to reveal the truth.

Additionally, Chauvin claims that Schaetzel contacted his trial attorney, Eric Nelson, in 2021, as well as the judge and prosecution involved in his state-court murder trial. Nevertheless, Chauvin alleges that Nelson never informed him about the pathologist or his findings. Furthermore, Chauvin asserts that Nelson failed to challenge the constitutionality of the federal charge. Chauvin argues that if the jury had been presented with the pathologist's evidence, he would not have been convicted.

Nelson declined to comment on the matter. Chauvin waived his rights to appeal, except on the grounds of ineffective counsel, when pleading guilty to the federal charge in December 2021. The federal appeals court has twice denied his requests for a rehearing. Chauvin is still awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether it will hear his appeal of his state court murder conviction. Three other former officers involved in Floyd's death received lesser state and federal sentences for their roles in the incident.