Retired Hennepin County Judge Kevin Burke sat down with WCCO’s Chad Hartman and Adam Carter to discuss the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial.
Judge Burke spent eight years as the chief judge of Hennepin County and served from 1984 until 2020.
“I have a hard time celebrating (the conviction in) a situation in which someone was murdered. And yes, I do believe that you should hold Mr. Chauvin accountable,” Judge Burke said. “But the bottom line is horrible, horrible damages have been done as a result of what Mr. Chauvin did.”
When asked to elaborate on the damages done, Judge Burke highlighted how the ‘rhetoric’ ended up being divisive.
“The justice system’s confidence was shaken. Um, we ended up with a national debate about eliminating police departments, which wasn’t particularly practical and really divided the country because of that rhetoric,” said Judge Burke. “Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that we need to reform many things about the criminal justice system, but it isn’t just the police. It’s prosecutors, public defenders, and yes, even judges.”
Judge Burke highlighted that he thought allowing cameras in the courtroom was ‘absolutely the right decision’ because people got to see ‘exactly’ what happened. And while Judge Burke acknowledged that Judge Cahill did a great job, he said that tomorrow’s focus wouldn’t be about him.
“The story tomorrow is not going to be about Peter Cahill. It’s going to be about the outcome and a fair trial that both the State and Mr. Chauvin got,” Judge Burke said. “And I think I've said this, Chad before. You don't want the Super Bowl story the next day to be about how the referees drove the outcome. That’s not going to be the story.”
When asked about cameras in the courtroom, Judge Burke was in favor of it.
“This case is going to be-- and the verdict that the jury reached is going to be widely accepted because people saw, through their own eyes, what happened,” said Judge Burke.
He went on to say that while watching the case, he tried to view Derek Chauvin as ‘innocent.’ This was to try and let the State convince him with their evidence of Chauvin’s guilt as he viewed the trial from home. Even with keeping in mind the standard of reasonable doubt, Judge Burke thinks that the Jury made the right decision.
“I think this was a very fair verdict,” Judge Burke said.
He highlighted that he believes Chavin’s actions were ultimately the cause of death and that the state had some very compelling witnesses. The video, in and of itself, Judge Burke said was enough for jurors to watch and determine that the use of force was not reasonable.
On this issue of an appeal, Judge Burke called it a ‘tough’ appeal. He said that even Congresswoman Maxine Waters’s controversial comments were not enough.
“That in and of itself would never be enough,” said Judge Burke. “Eric Nelson (Chauvin’s Lawyer) will, uh, make an affidavit, get some transcripts, he'll put it in the record. It's about the totality of the atmosphere that surrounded this case.”
When it comes to sentencing, Judge Burke says that Chauvin will ultimately only be sentenced on the second-degree murder charge. However, the sentencing could be more severe due to his conduct, the fact that the crime took place in front of a juvenile and that he was in a position of authority as a police officer. If Judge Cahill finds reason to believe these issues are present, then he can aggregate the sentence.
“I think it's a... it's a really tough decision as a judge to end up saying that I have a human being’s fate in my hands. I need to be temperate, and what I mean by that is anger is appropriate because this is a situation that can get you angry,” Judge Burke said. “But contempt of a person can get you in a boatload of trouble, so you can't be contemptuous of Derek Chauvin. He is a human being, and this is something I need to think about.”