The Justice Department has asked a court to block an attempt by Derek Chauvin’s lawyers to re-examine George Floyd’s heart.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota filed a motion Tuesday asking a judge to reconsider his decision to allow Chauvin’s legal team to examine Floyd’s heart tissue and bodily fluids, among other evidence, to prove whether he is actually died of heart disease.

The day before, US District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that the former police officer’s team could review the deceased man’s autopsy report.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota argued that the request stemmed “solely from an email (Chauvin) received from an unverified doctor offering a version of the medical defense that was weaker than the version the jury had previously dismissed at his state trial. .’

The doctor, Kansas medical examiner William Schaetzel, contacted Chauvin’s team after he pleaded guilty, proposing that Floyd did not die because of the police officer kneeling on his neck for several minutes.

Chauvin’s latest attempt to overturn his conviction cites “ineffective assistance of counsel” from original defense attorney Eric Nelson, who he says failed to convey the theory to him from Schaetzel that Chauvin did not cause Floyd’s death.

Minnesota prosecutors argued that Chauvin’s team choosing not to examine Floyd’s heart during the trial was a “strategic decision that the courts recognized as ‘virtually incontrovertible.’

“And even if (the) defendant could establish unreasonable performance, he would not be able to demonstrate harm resulting from counsel’s decisions,” they wrote.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota filed a motion Tuesday asking a judge to reconsider his decision to allow Derek Chauvin’s legal team to examine George Floyd’s heart to prove whether he actually died of heart disease.

The day before, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ordered the former police officer’s team to review the deceased man’s autopsy report. Dr. William Schaetzel contacted Chauvin’s team after he pleaded, suggesting that Floyd did not die because of the desk kneeling on his neck.

“It defies belief that, had (the) defendant been aware of a weaker medical defense theory than the one already rejected by his state jury, he would have chosen trial again, in the face of overwhelming evidence and to a life sentence.

Prosecutors also argued that Dr. Andrew Baker, who performed Floyd’s autopsy, testified during the trial that he did not believe the man’s paraganglioma – a benign tumor found in Floyd’s pelvis – had something to do with his death.

“I looked at it under a microscope,” he testified.

“The most likely diagnosis is paraganglioma, but I have no reason to believe this had anything to do with Mr. Floyd’s death.”

Prosecutors added: “Discovery of Dr. Schaetzel’s opinion would not change the reasonableness of (Chauvin’s) choices.”

On Monday, Judge Magnuson ruled that “given the important nature of the criminal matter for which Mr. Chauvin was convicted,” there was “good reason to allow Mr. Chauvin to make the discovery that he asks.”

Legal experts also agree that Chauvin should be allowed to view the autopsy.

Former Philadelphia prosecutor David Gelman said Fox News: ‘Chauvin should have every opportunity to exhaust his appeals like any other accused. If this were any other case, I bet the Justice Department wouldn’t have objected.

Prosecutors argued that the request arose “solely from an email (Chauvin) received from an unverified doctor offering a version of the medical defense that was weaker than the version the jury had previously rejected at his trial.” ‘State”.

The May 2020 encounter sparked public outcry because Floyd was an unarmed black man charged with a nonviolent crime.

The North Carolina native had been suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill, which led to a deadly altercation with Chauvin and three other officers.

Attempting to restrain Floyd, Chauvin knelt on his neck and back for what authorities would later say was 9 minutes and 29 seconds, fatally asphyxiating him in the process.

In his final moments, Floyd uttered the words “I can’t breathe,” creating a rallying cry for a later civil rights movement.

Chauvin was convicted the following year and has now been serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for just over three years.

After his conviction, he was stabbed 22 times by a Mexican gangster in federal prison in 2023.

John Turscak, 52, was charged with attempted murder after attacking Chauvin in the prison library with an “improvised knife.”

He reportedly told investigators he chose the day after Thanksgiving for its symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, which was sparked in part by Floyd’s killing.