You may be wondering why former officers, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane, are still facing criminal charges when Derek Chauvin has already been found guilty of killing George Floyd. It’s because the former officers have been charged with “aiding and abetting” Derek Chauvin. In other words, the prosecution is attempting to convict these men for “helping” Chauvin kill Mr. Floyd.
An accomplice is someone who helps someone else commit a crime, such as by being a lookout or driving the getaway car. Under Minnesota law, a person can be held criminally liable for a crime committed by another if the person intentionally aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires with the other to commit the crime. (Minn. Stat. § 609.05).
In order to be criminally liable, Minnesota courts have decided that the person must act intentionally: their mere presence or unintentional actions are not enough to hold them liable for the crimes of another. To convict a person of aiding and abetting, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that the other person was going to commit a crime (or that it was “reasonably foreseeable” they would commit the crime) and that defendant intended his presence or actions to help the other person commit the crime. This can be difficult because the prosecution must prove the defendant’s state-of-mind, which usually involves using circumstantial evidence.
The law does create a defense for those charged under accomplice liability if they abandoned their assistance and made a reasonable effort to prevent the crime prior to its commission. If they can show they stopped helping and tried to stop the crime, then they are not liable if the crime was thereafter committed.
The defense attorneys for the former officers present during George Floyd’s killing will likely focus on casting doubt on whether their clients acted intentionally, whether or not they actually did something affirmative to help Chauvin, and whether or not it was reasonably foreseeable that Chauvin would kill Mr. Floyd. Additionally, they will likely work to prove that if any aid was rendered it was then abandoned and that the defendants made a reasonable effort to prevent Chauvin from committing his crimes. It is also anticipated that the other three defendants will argue that they were merely following the direction of the senior officer on scene, Mr. Chauvin.