Elon Musk calls for Derek Chauvin’s release; former officer files petition to overturn murder conviction

MINNEAPOLIS (Gray News) – Billionaire Elon Musk is calling for the release of Derek Chauvin.

Musk took to X on Wednesday, stating that “Chauvin was unjustly convicted of murder” and therefore “He should be freed.”

The chief executive officer of Tesla also retweeted others who spoke out against Chauvin’s conviction.

“The facts show that he was not the cause of death, nor did he at any time intend for a death to occur. Whatever else he may be, he is not a murderer,” he continued.

Musk’s comments come a day after Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer, once again requested a dismissal of state murder charges in the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

This is Chauvin’s third time asking to have the charges dismissed, with the previous petitions being denied.

According to court documents filed Tuesday in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Chauvin’s legal team is requesting a dismissal of the conviction over violations of his due process rights.

The alleged violations listed included the “illegitimate” assignment of the case to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Hennepin County District Court’s failure to convene a grand jury before charges were decided.

Chauvin has been in federal prison since 2021 and is currently serving a 22 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder and a concurrent 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin used his knee to pin his neck to the ground for a reported 9 1/2 minutes.

Chauvin’s attorneys have previously appealed his conviction to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, citing a long list of reasons, including procedural errors and pretrial publicity that deprived him of a fair trial. Minnesota’s top court rejected those petitions.

Prosecutors have not filed an immediate response to Chauvin’s defense team’s latest petition.