Using the school’s legal experts, the page will give context to help people better understand the trial
Mitchell Hamline is launching a new resource page to utilize the school’s legal expertise to help the public better understand the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd in 2020. In addition, Mitchell Hamline will offer a course for students this summer that focuses on the legal particulars surrounding the case.
“George Floyd’s killing raised the level of global awareness regarding systemic racism,” said Rick Petry, program manager in Mitchell Hamline’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and one of the instructors for the course. “But one role Mitchell Hamline can play in healing is to use our expertise to give the public a sense of why and how things are happening.”
Professors Rick Petry (L) and John Radsan (R) will teach the course this summer.
The course, “Advanced Criminal Law: Cops as Defendants,” will provide Mitchell Hamline students “a tremendous opportunity to observe a high-profile trial and learn about the legal issues, strategies, and social impact of such a trial in real time,” added Professor John Radsan, the course’s other instructor.
The webpage will be a collection of commentaries and other essays written by legal experts on various facets of the case, starting with Minneapolis attorney Albert T. Goins Sr., who wrote a piece called “When the Scales of Justice Turn Upside Down.” The page will also be a place for members of the media to see which legal experts are available for analysis for stories, include links to stories that have quoted Mitchell Hamline voices, and include information about panel discussions Mitchell Hamline is organizing on various facets of the case.
“State v. Derek Chauvin might be one of the most impactful cases tried in Minnesota in the past several decades,” said Petry. “The legal issues in this matter are complex and some remain unsettled.
“This is also the first trial in the state’s history to be livestreamed in real time, and the outcome of the case will, I suspect, reverberate globally.”
