A new court filing in Minnesota has reopened one of the most polarizing criminal cases in modern American history.
The petition, which alleges prosecutorial misconduct in Derek Chauvin’s state trial, has gone viral online and sparked loud calls for a presidential pardon from figures on the far right and alt-right.
At the same time, Minneapolis city officials quietly closed a related misconduct complaint against a top police leader, adding another layer of controversy.
Journalist Liz Collin and filmmaker Dr. JC Chaix walked through the filing and its fallout on Alpha News’ Liz Collin Reports.
Alt-right activist Jack Posobiec then amplified the moment even further, declaring that “America will not be made whole” until Chauvin is given “justice.”
All of this is happening against the backdrop of Chauvin’s 2021 conviction for murdering George Floyd, and years of legal appeals that have so far failed to overturn that verdict.
The new calls for a pardon began in March with political commentator Ben Shapiro’s video posted to X and later reposted by Elon Musk.
A “Bombshell” Filing That Mainstream Media Ignored
On Alpha News, Liz Collin calls the new petition a “bombshell filing” in Hennepin County Court.
She says it represents “basically Derek Chauvin’s last line of defense” in the Minnesota courts over his role in the arrest and death of George Floyd.
Collin points out that Alpha News published an article on the filing that has been viewed “tens of millions of times,” driven in part by a headline quoting Chauvin’s attorney Greg Joseph.
Joseph’s line – “the prosecution can only run from the truth for so long” – was quickly picked up by high-profile accounts on X, including Elon Musk, Jack Posobiec, and Tim Pool, all of whom lean hard into populist, far-right, and alt-right politics online.
Collin notes that, despite this viral interest, what she calls “Minnesota’s corporate media” has not covered the petition at all.
From her point of view, the silence from mainstream outlets stands in sharp contrast to the intense coverage that surrounded Chauvin’s original trial.
That framing taps into a familiar narrative on the right: that legacy media will highlight anything that supports a guilty verdict, but downplay or ignore information that could undermine it.
What The Petition Says Went Wrong
Filmmaker Dr. JC Chaix, writer and director of The Fall of Minneapolis, tells Collin the new petition “cuts to the heart of the Chauvin trial” – or, as he bluntly calls it, the “hoax of a trial.”
Chaix focuses on a few main claims.
First, he points to Exhibit 17, the now-famous image of Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck.
Chaix calls it “a snapshot,” just one frame pulled from a bystander video that ran more than eight minutes.
If that video was recorded at 30 frames per second, he notes, that means more than 14,000 individual frames exist.
Focusing public attention on a single still image, he argues, turned a complex, minute-by-minute encounter into a simple piece of “mythmaking” and “media fabrication.”
Chaix then moves to the medical evidence.
He reminds viewers that Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner who performed the only autopsy on Floyd, described the death as “cardiopulmonary arrest” – essentially, heart failure.
Chaix emphasizes that Baker did not use the word “asphyxia” in his official conclusions.
Yet, during trial, Chaix notes that prosecutors called four other expert witnesses who did not perform an autopsy, including at least one person who claimed to be an expert in analyzing videos to determine cause of death.
Chaix says this video-based “expertise” lacked any “scientifically established method” or track record.
He suggests that relying on such witnesses – instead of centering the autopsy doctor’s own language – is one example of how the state allegedly crossed the line.
To be clear, these are Chaix’s interpretations and arguments.
The conviction still stands, and multiple courts have already reviewed and rejected earlier appeals.
But his breakdown helps explain why some people feel that parts of the case were shaped more by narrative and emotion than by strict legal procedure.
Perjury Allegations And A Closed Complaint
Collin and Chaix also connect the petition to fresh controversy around Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Collin explains that Rep. Paul Novotny, chair of the Minnesota House Public Safety Committee, filed a formal complaint with the city’s Office of Police Conduct Review.
That complaint came after 14 current and former Minneapolis officers accused Blackwell of perjury in her trial testimony against Chauvin.
Blackwell was head of the MPD’s training division at the time of Floyd’s death, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has described her testimony as “crucial for the state.”
Despite those accusations, Collin reports that the city quietly closed the complaint with no discipline.
No written warning, no formal reprimand, nothing.
Chaix says that “the lack of discipline actually speaks volumes” about how the department handles “transparency and accountability.”
In his view, even a mild reminder about the seriousness of perjury would have opened the door to questioning Blackwell’s reliability — and with it, the MPD’s official training narrative that played such a big role in the prosecution.
He suggests that disciplining Blackwell would have raised uncomfortable questions:
What training exactly did officers receive?
What did she sign off on?
Did her trial testimony match that training?
By clearing her with no action at all, he argues, the city has effectively signaled that “she can do no wrong,” at least on paper.
Again, these are arguments from critics of the prosecution.
City officials have not publicly agreed that any perjury occurred, and internal reviews often close cases if investigators believe there is not enough evidence of wrongdoing.
Far-Right Figures Push Pardon And “Justice For Chauvin”
Outside the courtroom, the loudest calls for a pardon are coming from voices on the far right and alt-right.
On X, Jack Posobiec posted, “America will not be made whole until we receive Justice for Derek Chauvin.”
In a speech at a Turning Point USA event in Arizona, Posobiec went even further.
He told the crowd that “Derek Chauvin did not commit murder” and “should not be where he is right now.”
He claimed “the truth must come out about what happened with George Floyd,” calling the accepted version “a lie” that “was always a lie.”
Posobiec even vowed that once Chauvin is “a free man,” he will “personally lead the lawsuit against Black Lives Matter” to chase “the millions of dollars that they took with his name.”
These statements fit neatly into the political lanes that Posobiec, Musk, and commentator Tim Pool often operate in.
They have built large audiences by attacking mainstream media, challenging official narratives about race and policing, and criticizing Black Lives Matter as corrupt or dishonest.
For them, rallying around “justice for Chauvin” serves several purposes at once.
It fires up their base.
It rewrites a story that helped fuel the BLM movement.
And it reinforces the broader message that “the system” lies to ordinary Americans.
That doesn’t automatically make their arguments wrong – but it does mean they have clear incentives to push this angle hard, whether or not the legal system ultimately agrees.
A Case That Still Defines The Justice System
Underneath all of this noise is the simple fact that Derek Chauvin is still a convicted murderer under Minnesota law.
In 2021, a jury found him guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in George Floyd’s death.
He was sentenced to 22½ years in prison, and higher courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have refused to reopen or overturn that conviction so far.
On Liz Collin Reports, Dr. Chaix argues that the deeper issue goes beyond Chauvin himself.
He says the last five years have shown him “the importance and significance of the Bill of Rights,” especially the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a fair and impartial trial.
He urges viewers to read those rights for themselves and then ask:
Did these officers get the kind of trial they would want for themselves?
He echoes a line from former officer Alex Kueng (whom Collin and Chaix interviewed in The Fall of Minneapolis), asking if this is really how Americans want their justice system to work.
From a neutral perspective, that may be the most important question in all of this.
You don’t have to believe Chauvin is innocent to worry about whether media pressure, political demands, and institutional self-protection warped the process.
You also don’t have to believe the trial was a “hoax” to reject sweeping claims that Floyd’s death was “a lie” or that the entire case against Chauvin was fabricated.
Both things can be true at once: the killing can be real and horrific, and the legal system can still be flawed in how it handles the people involved.
Where The Debate Goes From Here
For now, the new petition is just that – a petition.
It lays out a detailed list of alleged misconduct, from how evidence was framed to how witnesses testified.
Judges, not pundits, will decide whether any of that is enough to reopen or overturn Chauvin’s conviction.
Meanwhile, the political fight is likely to grow louder.
Figures like Jack Posobiec and other far-right influencers have every reason to keep “Justice for Chauvin” trending.
It validates their brand and keeps their audiences energized against Black Lives Matter, legacy media, and Democratic prosecutors.
On the other side, many Americans still see Chauvin’s conviction as a defining moment of accountability for police violence and are deeply opposed to any talk of a pardon.
In that sense, the new filing doesn’t just challenge how one trial was handled.
It reopens a cultural wound that never really healed.
Whether you side with Collin and Chaix’s concerns, with Posobiec’s anger, or with those who want the case left alone, one thing is clear.
The fight over Derek Chauvin’s fate has become as much a battle over who controls the story of 2020 as it is over one man’s sentence – and that story still isn’t settled.
This article first appeared on Survival World.
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The article Calls for a pardon grow after claims that prosecutors crossed the line in the Chauvin trial first appeared on Survival World.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, John developed a love for the great outdoors early on. With years of experience as a wilderness guide, he’s navigated rugged terrains and unpredictable weather patterns. John is also an avid hunter and fisherman who believes in sustainable living. His focus on practical survival skills, from building shelters to purifying water, reflects his passion for preparedness. When he’s not out in the wild, you can find him sharing his knowledge through writing, hoping to inspire others to embrace self-reliance.
