The death of George Floyd shook the foundations of America. Few understand like Derek Chauvin did just how much everything changed. From the moment of Floyd’s instantaneous apotheosis outside of Cup Foods on May 25, 2020, Chauvin has been a dead man walking. When Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison said he was “saddened” by the news of Chauvin getting stabbed 22 times by a fellow inmate in Arizona, it almost sounded like a punchline.

Chauvin was accused of a modern-day lynching, but mob justice is what Chauvin received. Basic facts about his case were left out of the political narrative fed to the masses in the intervening years. The media did not cover the crucial bodycam video of Floyd’s prolonged, violent struggle with two, then three police officers before he was even placed on the ground. Nor did the media cover the coroner’s report showing severe blockages in Floyd’s coronary arteries, or the toxicology report showing high levels of meth and fentanyl in his system, which the medical examiner said would have been enough to classify his death an overdose if he had been found alone at home.

The totality of the circumstances paints Officer Chauvin in a much more sympathetic light. But the patient, rational argument of his defense attorney Eric Nelson proved futile against the prosecution’s slogans and nursery rhymes. “Nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds” prosecutor Jerry Blackwell repeated with machine-gun rapidity and ended his closing arguments by quoting Dr. Seuss: “Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big.  … And the truth of the matter is, that the reason George Floyd is dead, is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.” Blackwell has since been appointed a federal judge by Joe Biden.

Although it was seldom mentioned directly during the trial, the case was entirely about race. Of course, there is no evidence Chauvin had any racial or even malicious intent—not that the lack of evidence mattered. According to the state, Chauvin had a sacred obligation to surrender his control of a lawful arrest to a crowd of angry bystanders and release the mostly peaceful black man in his custody. It was his own fault for not understanding the hidden rules of “Our Democracy™.”

Chauvin also had the incredibly bad luck of being a police officer in Minnesota. Under the state’s unusual laws, prosecutors were able to charge Chauvin with felony murder using assault as the underlying crime due to the use of force. This is an absurd legal standard, especially given the job of police officers, which requires the use of force to subdue noncompliant suspects. In the state’s theory, Chauvin did not even have to intend to inflict bodily harm to be held liable for “assault.” Unbeknownst to him, he was committing an “assault,” and simultaneously a “murder” while being recorded by hostile bystanders on a busy street in the fading daylight.

You would never know from his comments at the scene. “We gotta control this guy ‘cause he’s a sizable guy … and it looks like he’s probably on something,” Chauvin told an upset bystander.  

Chauvin was trying to control a volatile situation. Floyd had already overcome the efforts of three police officers who had tried to put him in a police van. A 911 dispatcher observed the car rocking back and forth. Across the street, another police officer was babysitting Floyd’s suspected drug dealer and ex-girlfriend who, let us say, had trouble following directions. As Nelson observed in his closing argument, the moment Floyd took his last breath, Chauvin felt sufficiently threatened by the crowd that he pulled out his mace. Paramedics did not begin resuscitative efforts on Floyd until minutes after arriving on the scene, as they were forced to drive blocks away for safety. The EMS response was further delayed by miscommunication with the Fire Department, which initially went to Cup Foods after the paramedics had already left.

The state had some fun mocking the idea that Floyd’s death in police custody was an “amazing coincidence,” but to Chauvin, an encounter with a man like Floyd must appear an amazing stroke of misfortune indeed. Almost exactly a year prior to his death, Floyd exhibited virtually identical behavior while resisting a different arrest—he refused to put his hands up when confronted, cried uncontrollably, and ultimately swallowed the drugs on his person, causing his blood pressure to spike to dangerous levels. It turns out that Floyd had a rare tumor called a paraganglioma, sometimes known as the “pharmacologic time bomb,” that secretes excess adrenaline, posing a risk of sudden death to a man with Floyd’s truculent disposition and poor cardiovascular health. What are the odds?

The most qualified witness on the cause of death, Hennepin County medical examiner Andrew Baker, originally reported that he found no signs of injury to Floyd’s neck and did not believe his airway would have been obstructed by Chauvin’s knee.

The state downplayed Baker’s statements, turning instead to a small army of “experts” to prop up the shoddy narrative that Floyd died of “positional asphyxia.” The experts lent a patina of credentialed authority to the core narrative, which was told from the perspective of the emotional bystanders of Floyd’s noble desire to be free of police restraint.

The jury heard from Dr. Martin Tobin, a pulmonologist with a silvery beard and a charming Irish accent, whose recondite analysis of Floyd’s breathing doubtless made a forceful impression on jurors predisposed to save their own hides and conditioned to “believe the science.” (The trial took place at the height of COVID mania.) Some other memorable performances came from a weirdly affected cardiologist who said there was no chance Floyd died of a 90 percent blocked coronary artery; a law professor and police reform activist who insisted that the officers used excessive force the moment they placed Floyd on the ground, and no reasonable officer would say otherwise; and a self-described martial arts expert with a high opinion of his own “professionalism,” Donald Williams. Williams said Chauvin used a “bloodchoke” (in fact, both of Floyd’s carotid arteries were unobstructed) and was one of the bystanders at the scene who can heard jeering on the video, calling Chauvin a “bum” and a “bitch.”

After 15 days of humiliating political theater, prosecutors told the jury to “believe your eyes” and trust their initial impression of the case, as it appeared to them in the video they had seen dozens or hundreds of times before entering the courtroom.

Nelson had an impossible task. The destruction in Minneapolis in May and June of 2020 was catastrophic. The rioters cooked a man alive, yet the 26-year-old arsonist, Montez Terriel Lee, was never charged with murder and received a sentence half as long as Chauvin’s. The crowd took control of a police precinct, forcing cops to flee on foot, and then torched it. Dozens of buildings were set ablaze, but just a handful of the anarchists were ever charged. When the nightmare was over, Lake Street was a smoking ruin; the rioters had dealt $500 million in property damage.

When the trial began, the scars were yet fresh. Members of the jury arrived with powerful preconceptions about the facts of the case and if they had any doubts, they were quieted by fears of retaliation in the event of an acquittal. The courthouse was turned into a fortress; National Guard troops patrolled the city. One of the jurors asked to be dismissed; his request was denied. Another lied about his participation in the Black Lives Matter movement. Several of the jurors went on TV to bask in the glory of their public service and share their “trauma.”

Every single aspect of the trial was saturated by politics. According to a deposition from former Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy, there was “extreme pressure” to bring charges against the other officers. The medical examiner, Andrew Baker, admitted in a separate federal civil rights trial of the other three officers involved that he experienced an avalanche of threats after Floyd’s death. Baker, who originally found no sign of injury to Floyd’s neck, says he was not pressured to change anything in his autopsy report, but Sweasy testified that Baker expressed concern for his career if he strayed from “the narrative.” In his final report, Baker declared Floyd’s death a “homicide” resulting from police “subdual, restraint and neck compression.”

Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin, for second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, to 21 years in prison, which is nearly twice the presumptive penalty. The judge did not permit the defense to show a training photograph that depicted the allegedly forbidden technique Chauvin used; on the other hand, prosecutors were allowed to parade expert after expert to impeach the quality of Chauvin’s police work. These included the then-chief of police, who had declared Floyd’s death a “murder” long before the court’s doors opened.

The list of abuses goes on and on, but there is nowhere for Chauvin to turn; even the Supreme Court has barred its doors to him.

Today, 38th and Chicago is a pilgrimage site known as George Floyd Square. The police don’t go there anymore. “Criminals know the area lacks police protection,” Cups Foods complained in a recent lawsuit, “and they have now made the area so dangerous that it has become known as the ‘No Go Zone.’”

As for Chauvin, it appears likely that he will die an unwilling martyr for Western civilization. Until then, he is living proof of our devolution into tyranny.