Billionaire Elon Musk has backed former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, saying on X on Wednesday that Chauvin was 'unjustly convicted of murder' over the 2020 killing of George Floyd and should be released from prison. Musk also claimed the evidence showed Chauvin neither caused Floyd's death nor intended for anyone to die.
Chauvin was convicted in a Minnesota state court in 2021 of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter following Floyd's death. He later pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights, leaving him with concurrent state and federal prison sentences.