08/23/2026
🚨 DEREK CHAUVIN MAKES NEW BID TO OVERTURN GEORGE FLOYD MURDER CONVICTION
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is again asking the courts to overturn his Minnesota conviction in the death of George Floyd.
On August 18, 2026, Chauvin's attorney filed a third petition for post-conviction relief in Hennepin County. The filing asks the court to vacate his convictions and dismiss the charges, arguing, among other things, that Chauvin's due-process rights were violated by the way the prosecution was authorized and by the failure to convene a grand jury before charges were brought. These are claims made by Chauvin's defense and have not been accepted by the court.
The new petition comes while Chauvin already has another appeal pending. His second post-conviction petition was rejected in May 2026, and he appealed that decision in June. His attorney is now asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to pause that appeal while the latest petition is considered.
Remember what happened in May 2025?
This latest court battle also brings back an issue Minnesota officials addressed last year.
In May 2025, amid speculation that President Donald Trump might pardon Chauvin's separate federal civil-rights conviction, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the state was preparing for that possibility. Walz made clear that even a presidential pardon would not eliminate Chauvin's Minnesota conviction and said Chauvin would be transferred to Minnesota to continue serving his 22½-year state sentence. At the time, the White House said there were no plans to pardon Chauvin.
Chauvin's latest filing therefore attacks the state conviction itself. The conviction that a presidential pardon cannot erase.
For now, Chauvin's conviction remains in effect. The August filing is a request for the courts to overturn it, not a ruling that the conviction was invalid.
