Giving credit where it’s due, popular podcasters Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly recently ignored the media taboo and openly addressed the railroading of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and his three colleagues.
As refreshing as their discussions were, both Carlson and Kelly seemed unaware of a critical bit of exculpatory information that was first revealed more than two years ago.
At that time, no one at their level in the media dared address the obvious injustice unfolding in Minneapolis.
As the world knows, the four officers were imprisoned for their respective roles in the death of chronic felon and drug abuser George Floyd in May of 2020.
Chauvin was tried in April of 2021. In the months following, Chauvin’s fellow officers – Tuo Thao, Alex Keung and Thomas Lane – all were subjected to the wrath of state and federal prosecutors.
What prompted Carlson and Kelly to address the Chauvin case were recently released depositions taken for a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Hennepin County Assistant Attorney Amy Sweasy against her then boss, former County Attorney Mike Freeman.
In their discussions, Carlson and Kelly focused on Sweasy’s unwitting revelation of what she learned about Floyd’s death from Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker.
“I called Dr. Baker early that morning to tell him about the case and to ask him if he would perform the autopsy on Mr. Floyd,” said Sweasy in her deposition.
“He called me later in the day on that Tuesday, and he told me that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr. Floyd’s neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation,” Sweasy added.
Baker was anxious and with good cause. Sweasy continued, “He said to me, ‘Amy, what happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on?’ And then he said, ‘This is the kind of case that ends careers.'”
Although Sweasy knows very well why Baker eventually amended his autopsy report, Carlson and Kelly apparently did not. Kelly, in fact, assumed that the prosecutors badgered him into finessing it.
The real reason for the change is more disturbing. In May 2021, the attorneys for Tuo Thao filed a motion that should have been headline news. A year after Floyd’s death, however, even the conservative media wouldn’t touch it.
The attorneys asked the court “for a factual finding that the testimony of Dr. Baker was directly and indirectly coerced by the State and its agents.”
As the motion notes, Dr. Roger Mitchell, then medical examiner of Washington, D.C., managed to read Baker’s preliminary finding that “revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”
Mitchell admittedly spoke with Baker before Baker finalized his findings on June 1, the Sunday after Floyd’s death on Monday, May 25.
Tao’s attorneys got their information from an exhibit quietly released by the state in February 2021. Its subject was a conference on Nov. 5, 2020, attended by Mitchell and five attorneys, four of them from the office of Attorney General Keith Ellison, a black activist.
Mitchell all but boasted of his intervention. The state’s summary of its conference with Mitchell reads as follows, “When the preliminary result came out via the criminal complaint, Mitchell found the statement was bizarre.”
“Mitchell was reading and said this is not right. So Mitchell called Baker and said first of all Baker should fire his public information officer.” This call appears to have taken place on Friday, May 29, the day Baker’s preliminary findings were made public.
The summary continues, “Baker said that he didn’t think the neck compression played a part and that he didn’t find petechiae. Mitchell said but you know you can not have petechiae and still have asphyxia and can still have neck compression.”
Wanting to get out from under the mounting pressure, Baker asked Mitchell if he were going to come to Minneapolis and do a second exam. Said Mitchell, “I am just calling to lend you support and if you need support, let me know.”
That “support” took a diabolical turn. The summary continues, “Mitchell thought about it more that weekend, and was going to release an op-ed. … Mitchell called Baker first to let him know that he was going to be critical of Baker’s findings.”
The politically wired Mitchell was planning to send the op-ed to the Washington Post, a move that would wreck Baker’s career and possibly endanger his life.
The environment was that fraught. After a use-of-force expert testified on Chauvin’s behalf, justice lovers left a pig’s head on his doorstep.
As the state summary notes, “In this conversation, Mitchell said, you don’t want to be the medical examiner who tells everyone they didn’t see what they saw. You don’t want to be the smartest person in the room and be wrong.”
Mitchell gave Baker an ultimatum. “Mitchell said neck compression has to be in the diagnosis.” The state summary ends matter-of-factly, “[Mitchell] Talked to Dr. Baker before his diagnosis were final.”
The motion by Tao adds this damning note, “The final autopsy findings included neck compression. Id. This was contrary to Dr. Baker’s conclusion before speaking with Dr. Mitchell twice.”
The overwhelmed attorneys in Chauvin’s April 2021 trial do not appear to have seen the state exhibit dated Nov. 5, 2020, and withheld from the defense until Feb. 3, 2021. It’s a shame. Without “neck compression,” there could have been no murder charge.
Mitchell’s mischief continued even after Chauvin’s trial. It involved Dr. David Fowler, the one physician brave enough to testify in Chauvin’s defense.
Eight days after Fowler’s testimony, Mitchell wrote an “open letter” to several relevant Maryland officials calling for “immediate investigation” of Fowler.
Fowler had served 17 years as Maryland’s chief medical examiner. Less than 24 hours after Mitchell posted the letter, Maryland’s attorney general launched a review.
No justice, no peace.
Jack Cashill’s new book, “Untenable: The True Story of White Ethnic Flight from America’s Cities,” is now available in all formats.
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