On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, thereby upholding his conviction for the May 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Chauvin’s legal team had petitioned the Supreme Court in October, seeking its intervention in his legal challenges.

These challenges primarily revolved around the Minnesota trial court’s refusal to change the trial venue and to sequester the jury.

Chauvin contended that the choice to maintain the proceedings in Minneapolis denied him a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and the potential for violence and riots if he were acquitted, CBS News reported.

“Mr. Chauvin’s case shows the profound difficulties trial courts have to ensure a criminal defendant’s right to an impartial jury consistently when extreme cases arise,” his lawyers told the court in a filing, adding that the jurors who heard the case “had a vested interest in finding Mr. Chauvin guilty in order to avoid further rioting in the community in which they lived and the possible threat of physical harm to them or their families.”

In April, the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Chauvin’s conviction and dismissed his plea for a new trial.

This came after Chauvin’s legal team contested Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill’s choice not to relocate the trial from Minneapolis, among other concerns.

The state supreme court opted not to review this decision in July, thereby confirming Chauvin’s conviction and maintaining his sentence of 22 ½ years.

Written by B.C. Begley