Chauvin defense granted motion to examine George Floyd's heart tissue for substance they believe killed him

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Seeking to get to the truth about the actual cause of leftist hero George Floyd’s death in May 2020, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s attorneys have been granted an opportunity to have tests done on preserved samples of Floyd’s heart to support their challenge to his federal civil rights conviction, CBS News reports. 

Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2022, which runs alongside his state of Minnesota conviction of second-degree murder. 

In November 2023, Chauvin’s attorney filed a motion to vacate the federal charges, noting his client would not have pleaded guilty had he been aware of the theories of Kansas pathologist Dr. William Schaetzel, who doesn’t believe Chauvin was responsible for Floyd’s death. 

Some have long believed that Floyd died of a combination of excessive amounts of fentanyl, positional asphyxia, and, in the case of Schaetzel, he believes myocarditis, which is caused by a high level of catecholamines. 

Catecholamines are neurohormones typically found in a stress response associated with the phenomenon of “flight or fight,” which Schaetzel suggests is what Floyd experienced, along with Takotsubo myocarditis. This heart condition develops in response to an intense emotional or physical experience. 

The motion further accuses Chauvin’s then-attorney, Eric Nelson, of ineffective counsel by his failure to inform Chauvin of Schaetzel’s theory and failing to have samples of Floyd’s heart tested despite Schaetzel’s recommendations. 

The motion granted by the judge allows Chauvin’s attorneys to conduct discovery of slides and photographs of Floyd’s heart, along with tissue samples and tissue blocks containing heart tissue. They can also take fluids from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office to test the “concentration of fractionated catecholamines and metanephrine levels present,” court documents showed. 

Floyd died after being taken into custody on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd’s upper body to the ground for 8-½ minutes. Different angles from video in the area raised doubts if Chauvin’s knee was, in fact, on Floyd’s neck as the prosecution alleged. But of course with the many riots and threats to jury members, Chauvin was found guilty of murder.

Floyd’s death turned him into a folk hero and sparked a summer of violent riots in cities nationwide that resulted in billions of dollars in damage and numerous deaths. It also resurrected the Black Lives Matter movement, which grifted his death into shaking down corporations for multi-millions in donations.