Judge in Derek Chauvin trial says Maxine Waters’ comments could lead to whole case ‘being overturned’

 

The judge in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial slammed Rep. Maxine Waters’ call for protesters to “get confrontational” if the ex-cop is cleared in the death of George Floyd on Monday — saying it could lead to the whole case “being overturned.”

The stunning remarks came as the city of Minneapolis braces for unrest while the jury deliberates in the case. 

Defense attorney Eric Nelson had urged Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill to declare a mistrial, arguing that “an elected official, US Congressperson” made statements that “I think are reasonably interpreted to be threats against the sanctity of the jury process” and had the effect of “threatening and intimidating the jury.”

Cahill denied the motion but told Nelson, “I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”

“This goes back to what I’ve been saying from the beginning,” the judge fumed. “I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch and our function.”

“I think if they want to give their opinion they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution to respect a co-equal branch of government,” he said. “Their failure to do so, I think, is abhorrent, but I don’t think it’s prejudiced us with additional material that would prejudice this jury.”

Cahill added: “a Congresswoman’s opinion really doesn’t matter a whole lot.”

The jury had just begun deliberating on murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd’s May 25 death.

Waters has drawn fierce criticism for telling protesters who were demonstrating last week’s fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright in neighboring Brooklyn Center that they should “stay in the streets.”

“We’ve got to stay in the streets, and we’ve got to demand justice,” Waters, of California, told a crowd of demonstrators in Brooklyn Center on Sunday. 

“I hope we get a verdict that says, guilty, guilty, guilty,” she said of the Chauvin trial. “And if we don’t, we cannot go away. We’ve got to stay on the street.”

“We get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational,” Waters added. “We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that she didn’t believe Waters needed to apologize for the controversial comments.

“Maxine talked about confrontation in the manner of the civil rights movement,” Pelosi said.

“I myself think we should take our lead from the George Floyd family,” she said. “They’ve handled this with great dignity and no ambiguity or lack of misinterpretation by the other side.”

“No, no,” Pelosi added. “I don’t think she should apologize.”

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