Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested on May 29th after a video was released of him kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes, which led to Floyd’s death. Chauvin’s charges consisted of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder. Which he would have been sentenced up to 40 years in prison.
In July, it was released that Chauvin’s bail would be set to $1 million. His bail being officially that number if he agreed to certain terms. Those terms being surrendering any of his firearms, remaining in the state until trial, not working in law enforcement, and avoiding any contact with the Floyd family.
Chauvin posted his $1 million bail on Oct. 7th, which granted his release from Oak Park Heights Prison in Minnesota. In documents, it doesn’t state where the bond came from. His release caused Gov. Tim Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard due to the possibility of protests and riots. This call to activate the Minnesota National Guard consist of 100 soldiers and provides equipment and facilities in support of protecting the public.
Out of an abundance of caution, Soldiers from the @MNNationalGuard are being activated by @GovTimWalz under Executive Order. The Soldiers will report for duty and stage in preparation for potential response in support of local law enforcement pending specific mission requests. pic.twitter.com/As09Fvf3M6
— MN National Guard (@MNNationalGuard) October 7, 2020
Although, there wasn’t any aggressive riots or violence upon Chauvin’s release, the most recent report on his newest bail conditions could lead to that. Judge Peter Cahill ruled to change this restriction based on “evidence supporting safety conditions that have arisen.”
From The Washington Post
The order says Chauvin should “establish residency somewhere in the state of Minnesota or a contiguous state” — Iowa, the Dakotas or Wisconsin — and provide the address to the court, prosecutors and law enforcement officials who will share the information on a “need to know basis” only. The court record will reflect that the “defendant has no permanent address,” Cahill ruled.
Chauvin, 44, was transferred from a state prison where he had been held since his arrest in late May to the Hennepin County Jail on Wednesday when he posted a conditional $1 million bond. The terms of the bond restricted him from leaving the state, a fairly typical condition in a murder case. Chauvin was the last of the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd’s death to be released from jail on bond.
Many people would assume that Chauvin could be receiving special treatment, especially when in June Black corrections officers at a Minneapolis prison where he was being held, filed a lawsuit alleging that their supervisors banned them from dealing with Chauvin. Hearing that his bail conditions reportedly got updated to possibly benefit him could definitely cause many protests to happen.
A date for the trial of Chauvin and his fellow former Minneapolis police officers, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane, and Tou Thao, has been set for March 2021.
