A federal judge granted Derek Chauvin’s defense attorneys permission to examine George Floyd’s heart tissue in an effort to substantiate their theory that Floyd died of an underlying heart condition, not from the pressure that Chauvin applied to his neck during the ill-fated arrest four years ago.

Convicted ex-officer Derek Chauvin may face a longer sentence after a Minnesota judge ruled there were aggravating factors involved in the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody.

Judge Peter Cahill ruled that Chauvin, 45, abused his authority as a police officer when he restrained Floyd by kneeling on his neck for over eight minutes, according to an order made public Wednesday.

A Minnesota judge has found aggravating factors in Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd — a finding that dramatically increases the likelihood of a longer sentence.

Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty last month of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd in May 2020.

A juror in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, participated in last summer's March on Washington, a move that is coming under scrutiny after Chauvin's attorney requested a new trial on several grounds, including juror misconduct.

The attorney, Eric Nelson, did not refer to the juror's participation in the march in his request for a new trial Tuesday. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last month of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death last May 25.

Support for the guilty verdicts in Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd plummeted among Republicans in the days following the trial, with disapproval of the verdict nearly doubling in a matter of days.

In a Morning Consult poll taken just after the guilty-on-all-counts verdicts were announced, 61 percent of Republicans approved of the verdict, while 29 percent disapproved — which was double the disapproval among all respondents, but still a solidly minority viewpoint.

Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters defended her call for protesters to “get more confrontational” if former police officer Derek Chauvin was not found guilty in the death of George Floyd.

“I have been an activist participating in the civil rights movement and I have dealt with the issue of police abuse for many decades,” Waters wrote Thursday in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. Waters survived a censure resolution introduced by Republican California Rep. Kevin McCarthy in a party-line vote.

Star NBA player LeBron James has ignited another controversy and, again, the National Basketball Association and his mega-sponsors are staying silent amid the hubbub.

The four-time NBA champion has been blasted for a Twitter post to his 50 million followers in which he included an image of one of the Columbus, Ohio, police officers involved in the shooting death of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant. James’ caption read: “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY.”

Doubt is at the heart of every criminal defense: Beyond a reasonable doubt, did Derek Chauvin cause the death of George Floyd, and if so, what was the degree of his intent? Eric Nelson, a defense attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer, hammered this question home to the jury in closing arguments Monday. While the jurors might have thought the prosecution’s evidence was convincing, that wasn’t enough.