Take a little time to read through these.
609.224 MISDEAMOR ASSAULT IN THE FIFTH DEGREE.
(1) commits an act with intent to cause fear in another of immediate bodily harm or death; or (2) intentionally inflicts or attempts to inflict bodily harm upon another.
609.223 FELONY ASSAULT IN THE THIRD DEGREE. (1) Substantial bodily harm. Whoever assaults another and inflicts substantial bodily harm may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.
609.20 MANSLAUGHTER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.
(2) violates section 609.224 and causes the death of another or causes the death of another in committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor offense with such force and violence that death of or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable,
609.19 MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE.
(1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting
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So in the simplest terms, a misdemeanor assault can turn into a felony assault if the end result includes substantial bodily harm, even if there is not an intent to inflict that harm. To take it one step further, a simple misdemeanor assault can turn into first degree manslaughter if the end result is death of the victim, even if there is not an intent to kill.
Based on the argument of the prosecution Derek Chauvin knee to the back was assault. Jerry Blackwell went so far as to explain to the jury that it didn't matter that Chauvin might not have intended to inflict any bodily harm, Chauvin "intended" to put his knee on Floyd's back and that provided enough to prove necessary intent and prove assault. A wrong interpretation of the statute, but par for the course.
Now here is where it gets clever. Had the State introduced first degree manslaughter as a charge, then the logic (as applied by Blackwell) would have fallen under the umbrella of Chauvin committing an assault, with the unintended consequence of that assault being the death of George Floyd. This is textbook manslaughter.
But by not introducing First Degree Manslaughter, they instead simply made the argument that the unintended consequence of the knee to the back (simple misdemeanor assault) was substantial bodily harm, rather than death. They don't ever argue what that substantial injury (other than the actual death was) but what does that matter?
They go on to argue that the substantial bodily harm now make the "misdemeanor assault" a "felony assault" and that the unintended consequences of that "felony assault" was death, and therefore second degree murder.
The bootstrap argument.
While this is clever, for all practical purposes it would render the concept of first degree manslaughter stemming from assault to be obsolete. Obviously a prosecutor could argue that every assault that leads to death could be considered at some point in time prior to death to be a felony assault. After all, there has be great bodily harm administered almost by definition for someone to have died from an assault.
The fact that prosecution argued that intent didn't matter would make the first degree manslaughter even less viable. Every assault that leads to death regardless of intent would be second degree murder rather than manslaughter.
Now some may argue that every assault that leads to death should be murder rather than manslaughter. Hey, whatever blows your hair back. But that is not the law here in Minnesota or anywhere else for that matter. Either way, the prosecution just made a mockery of our laws, and Judge Cahill was either a victim of or an accessory to this mocking.
Bottom Line: The manner in which they argued the facts here was a classic first degree manslaughter argument. But they chose not to charge him with it. Likely because that was the law that best fit their case, and they were desperate for a murder charge. By eliminating it, they bet that the jury would not be willing to hand down a simple second degree manslaughter charge because of the charged political nature of the case. Obviously they bet correctly.
