- An independent autopsy that found George Floyd died solely from asphyxiation could actually bolster the defense of the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing him, legal experts said.
On the surface, the independent autopsy would seem to bolster the prosecution's case against Derek Chauvin, the police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for several minutes before he died last week."It will be part of the defense strategy to say they can't even get the cause of death right," said Gerald Lefcourt, a criminal defense attorney.
Chauvin was charged on Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter. He has been fired from the Minneapolis police department. Dan Alonso, a former chief assistant district attorney in Manhattan, said the prosecution"wouldn’t be doing their job if they ignored it."