Minnesota Lawyer

George Floyd died of a lack of oxygen from being pinned facedown on the pavement with his hands cuffed behind him, a medical expert testified Thursday at former Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have resulted in fewer allegations of vulnerable adults being mistreated, the state Department of Human Services reported Tuesday.

After initially denying raises for judges, House Judiciary’s $1.086 billion biennial budget-and-policy omnibus was amended Wednesday to include a 3% salary hike requested for judges for 2023.

Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution expert, said based on his review of video evidence, Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck from the time officers put Floyd on the ground until paramedics arrived — about 9 1/2 minutes, by prosecutors’ reckoning.

A candid Q&A with Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, the House Judiciary’s rookie chair, who's a career prosecutor, a stalwart defender of equity and an opponent of racism, prejudice and privilege.

Minneapolis police are taught to restrain combative suspects with a knee on their back or shoulders if necessary but are told to “stay away from the neck when possible,” a department use-of-force instructor testified.

A dispute over wage theft and withheld sick time — and the repercussions from public comments made about those subjects — might be on its way to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a conviction, saying that to prove guilt of second-degree burglary, the state must prove that the burglar had a tool for the purpose of gaining access to money or property.

The Minneapolis police chief testified Monday that now-fired officer Derek Chauvin violated departmental policy in pinning his knee on George Floyd’s neck and keeping him down after Floyd had stopped resisting and was in distress.

In a decision with implications for the Derek Chauvin trial, the state Supreme Court has ruled that pattern jury instructions, long used by judges in third-degree depraved-mind murder cases, have been used in error.