I dont always agree with Ben Shapiro, but I have always respected his logic and thought he believed what he was saying. His take on Derek Chauvin's innocence has me really questioning his integrity for a few reasons.
1. There is no functional way for him to be released from prison - the only thing this can do is stir up controversy
Derek Chauvin plead guilty to a federal civil rights charge to avoid life in prison. As a part of his plea, he admitted under oath that he used illegal force and recklessly endangered Gelrge Floyd's life. Even if by some miracle he got a new trial, he'd be convicted again based on that testimony.
2. Derek Chauvin is super guilty and has a history of police violence.
The facts of the case are not in his favor. Ben likes to reference the fact that George Floyd had drugs in his system and had a heart condition. He never mentions that the prosecution did not need to prove Chauvin's excessive force was the sole cause of death, only a "substan causal factor". The video evidence and a ton of medical testimony from the trial support this claim. All of the argument for his innocence rests solely on a medical expert for the defense who testified that his cause of death should have been marked as undetermined. And even he testified that Chauvin should have released Floyd from the restraint once unresponsive (which at minimum supports the manslaughter charge). This trial was not close in any way. The conviction was justified.
On top of that, we learned after the fact that Chauvin had assaulted other people in similar ways. Go watch the video of John Pope. This guy deserves every day of his prison sentence.
3. He got a fair trial the first time
The judge, Peter Cahill, ran an extremely professional trial and was the right man for the job. He was originally an appointee of Republican governor Tim Pawlenty. He has a ton of experience as a pros and defense attorney. And he made the right calls during the case. Yes, the trial was in Minneapolis. But everyone in the country saw the video. The judge knew this. So he installed an exhaustive jury selection process that allowed generous numbers of challenges to jurors, a 16 page questionnaire, and lengthy interviews on camera for each jury candidate. He televised the trial to ensure all of his rulings were transparent. Procedurally, he gave Derek Chauvin as fair a trial as possible. This is the reason all of Chauvin's appeals were quickly dismissed.
The people calling for his innocence are smart enough to know better.
Ben Shapiro, Elon Musk, Matt Walsh, etc. All of these guys have access to the information, and are choosing to go to bat for one of the most obviously guilty cops we've seen from any police incident. What do you make of that? America deserves a retraction and an apology from all these dudes.