Elon Musk said on X that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is not a murderer and should be released from prison. The Tesla CEO made the statement hours after Fox News reported that Chauvin is seeking to have his state murder conviction vacated. Chauvin was convicted in the 2020 death of George Floyd, an incident that led to weeks of protests and unrest across the United States.
Chauvin, now 50 years old, was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison following his April 2021 conviction. Floyd, who was 46 at the time, died in May 2020 after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes while Floyd was face down on the ground with his hands behind his back. The case drew widespread attention after a video of the arrest was made public.
