Derek Chauvin’s attorneys filed a third petition for postconviction relief this week, arguing that the state of Minnesota never had lawful authority to prosecute him in the first place. A day later Elon Musk posted that Chauvin was unjustly convicted and should be freed.
The combination is why his name is trending. Neither event changes his status. He remains in federal prison serving two sentences.
What Was Filed
The petition went to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, reported Tuesday, with an accompanying motion asking to pause his pending appeal and send the matter back to the trial court.
The core claim is structural error. His lawyers argue Governor Tim Walz unlawfully assigned Attorney General Keith Ellison to prosecute the case, that no grand jury was convened, that the trial court therefore lacked jurisdiction, and that the judge was biased.
The filing states that Chauvin became aware of additional violations of his due process rights in the unlawful assignment of authority by Walz to Ellison. Prosecutors had not filed a response as of Thursday morning.
This Is the Third Attempt
His second postconviction petition, filed in November 2025, was denied on May 1 of this year. This new filing follows that denial by less than four months.
Repeat postconviction petitions face a high procedural bar in Minnesota, and courts generally require that claims not raised earlier could not reasonably have been raised earlier. That is what the language about becoming aware of additional violations is doing in the filing.
The Two Sentences People Keep Confusing
This is the single most important thing to understand about any Chauvin story, and most viral posts get it wrong.
He is serving 22 and a half years on a Minnesota state conviction for second degree murder, returned by a jury in April 2021. He is separately serving a concurrent 21 year federal sentence for violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
A presidential pardon reaches federal convictions only. It would not touch the state sentence. Any argument that Chauvin could be released by executive action alone is legally incorrect, and it circulates constantly.
What Musk Said
Musk posted Wednesday that Chauvin was unjustly convicted of murder and that he should be freed. He added that the facts show he was not the cause of death, nor did he at any time intend for a death to occur, and that whatever else he may be, he is not a murderer.
Those claims are contested. The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide, and the cause of death was litigated extensively at trial with testimony from multiple medical experts. A jury heard that evidence and convicted. Musk’s characterization is his opinion, not a finding.
The Pardon Stories Circulating Are Old
If you are seeing headlines this week about a campaign to secure a Trump pardon for Chauvin, check the dates. That reporting is from 2025 and is resurfacing on the back of the new filing.
No new pardon action has been reported in August 2026. The recirculation of year old stories alongside a genuine new court filing is what makes a trend like this hard to read at a glance.
The Record the Filing Does Not Address
Nothing in this petition disputes what happened on May 25, 2020. The nine minutes and twenty nine seconds are not at issue. The claims are jurisdictional and procedural.
That is a legitimate way to litigate an appeal and it is also worth stating plainly, because a filing about who had authority to prosecute is frequently reported as though it were a challenge to the underlying facts. It is not. For related coverage of how procedural questions become political ones, see our reporting on the David Morens guilty plea.
What Happens Next
The Court of Appeals will decide whether to grant the stay and remand. Prosecutors will respond. Neither of those is fast, and there is no hearing date.
The realistic range of outcomes runs from summary denial, which is what happened to the last two petitions, to a remand for further proceedings in the trial court. Release is not among the near term possibilities in either scenario.
Why This Keeps Coming Back
Six years on, this case remains the most contested criminal conviction in recent American memory, and the appellate process gives it a recurring news peg roughly every six months.
Each filing generates a cycle in which the legal specifics get compressed into a headline, old stories resurface, and a very large number of people argue past each other about what was actually decided in a Minneapolis courtroom in 2021. That is likely to continue for as long as he has filings left.
It is also worth noting what has not happened. No court has vacated any part of either conviction, no appellate panel has found merit in the jurisdictional argument, and the federal sentence has not been challenged in this filing at all. Six years of litigation has not moved his release date by a day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Derek Chauvin’s lawyers file?
A third petition for postconviction relief with the Minnesota Court of Appeals, along with a motion to stay his pending appeal, arguing structural error in how the case was prosecuted.
What is the argument?
That Governor Walz unlawfully assigned Attorney General Ellison to prosecute, that no grand jury was convened, that the trial court lacked jurisdiction, and that the judge was biased.
Could a presidential pardon release him?
No. A pardon would apply only to his 21 year federal sentence. His 22 and a half year Minnesota state sentence would remain.
What did Elon Musk say?
That Chauvin was unjustly convicted and should be freed, and that he did not cause or intend the death. Those claims contradict the medical examiner’s finding and the jury’s verdict.
Has this been tried before?
Yes. A second postconviction petition filed in November 2025 was denied on May 1, 2026.
Is he being released?
No. Nothing filed this week changes his custody status, and no hearing has been scheduled.
