Jordan and Royal Pacheco learn of George Floyd’s murder at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, ahead of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s sentencing, on June 25, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
By Samuel Short May 29, 2026 at 9:38am
The 2020 death of George Floyd became a spiritually transformative event for the left. A martyr had supposedly lost his life at the hands of an evil racist police officer who encapsulated in his actions how white society has oppressed, held down, and brutally murdered black America.
Not just the hardened left, but many in the public, acted possessed after that moment. They would hear no critique of that moment in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2020 based off body camera footage or toxicology reports.
Anyone who dared blaspheme against their new saint was a heretic, deserving to have their life ruined.
The social landscape in the months following that Memorial Day coalesced in the courtroom as Derek Chauvin’s 2021 trial resulted in a murder conviction that Judge Peter Cahill now looks back on and reflects, viewing the prosecution’s behavior as something truly disturbing, bordering on totalitarianism.
Passage Publishing is set to release “American Scapegoat: How a Corrupt Justice System Sacrificed Derek Chauvin to the Mob” this October.
Author and former federal prosecutor TJ Harker makes note of Cahill’s conclusion in his work, something Passage highlighted in a post about the book’s release via social media platform X.
Did you know that, during Chauvins state trial, Keith Ellison hired out 25+ private sector attorneys to assist in the prosecution of Derek Chauvin?
Did you know that the prosecution filed a motion to prevent the defense “from referring “to the number or nature of the State’s… https://t.co/Hifx4FJxvc
— Passage Publishing (@PassagePress) May 26, 2026
Was Derek Chauvin wrongly convicted?
“Did you know that, during Chauvins state trial, Keith Ellison hired out 25+ private sector attorneys to assist in the prosecution of Derek Chauvin?”
“Did you know that the prosecution filed a motion to prevent the defense from referring ‘to the number or nature of the State’s lawyers’ and not to use the phrase ‘army of lawyers’?”
“This mismatch of strength was so egregious that, in the federal trial where the prosecution only had 7 lawyers, the judge said: ‘In many former totalitarian states, the rule of law suffers because of the disproportionate power of the prosecutor vis-à-vis the accused and the judiciary.”
“The Court views the Government’s conduct in this case — not the least of which was assigning no fewer than seven prosecutors to try the case — as frighteningly close to that line of overzealous prosecution.’”
It’s an admission that — along with other details — makes one wonder if Chauvin received a fair trial.
If Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia James Boasberg had made this observation about President Donald Trump’s attorneys at any point, it would make waves. Unfortunately, Cahill’s remark will pass as a ripple.
Totalitarianism is the blurring of distinctions between public and private life.
In the midst of Floyd’s death, the two seemed to become one.
In every avenue, immense pressure mounted to support Black Lives Matter.
At work, on social media, and in private conversations, an ear was always kept open to find dissent and report it.
To hear Cahill say this atmosphere bled into his courtroom in its own way is distressing.
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Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
