Derek Chauvin Judge Cahill Says Maxine Waters ‘Confrontational’ Comments Could Cause Mistrial

© Getty Images House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) arrives for a House Financial Services Committee oversight hearing to discuss the Treasury Department’s and Federal Reserve’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on December 02, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Derek Chauvin Judge Peter A. Cahill on Monday said that U.S. Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters could have given the defense grounds to overturn the trial on appeal.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson asked for a mistrial after more than five hours of closing arguments on Monday. He pointed to the heightened media attention and remarks made by Waters on Saturday night during a protest outside the police department in the city of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.

Cahill denied the motion, but sympathized with the defense’s concerns, according to the StarTribune.

“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result on this whole trial being overturned,” Cahill said.

“This goes back to what I’ve been saying from the beginning,” the judge added. “I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, particularly in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and the judicial branch in our function. Their failure to do so is abhorrent, but I don’t think it has presented us with additional information that would prejudice the jury.”

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