Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called for the release of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin after reports that he is trying to get his murder conviction overturned.
Chauvin achieved infamy when he was caught on video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd before the career criminal and drug addict perished after he resisted arrest in May 2020, setting off violent race riots and unleashing a wave of institutionalized anti-white discrimination as part of the “racial reckoning” that followed.
The ex-cop was convicted on state charges of murder in a racially-charged trial and sent to federal prison in 2021 where he would be stabbed and nearly killed by another inmate.
He is seeking to have the conviction vacated, calling for “immediate dismissal” over violations of his due process rights, including the “illegitimate” assignment of the case to shady Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
The world’s wealthiest man took to X on Wednesday to advocate for Chauvin’s freedom.
Derek Chauvin was unjustly convicted of murder, therefore he should be freed.
The facts show that he was not the cause of death, nor did he at any time intend for a death to occur. Whatever else he may be, he is not a murderer.
That is the truth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 19, 2026
“Derek Chauvin was unjustly convicted of murder, therefore he should be freed,” Musk wrote. “The facts show that he was not the cause of death, nor did he at any time intend for a death to occur. Whatever else he may be, he is not a murderer.”
“That is the truth,” he added.
Chauvin is currently serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating the dead thug’s civil rights and a 22 1/2-year state of Minnesota sentence for second-degree murder. He is being held at a federal prison in Texas.
“As a result of these several due process violations, including the failure to present the matter to a grand jury for a probable cause determination or even to convene one, both this Court and the District Court lack jurisdiction over the charges in the Amended Complaint on which he is currently incarcerated, and it must be dismissed immediately,” Chauvin’s lawyers argued in the filing which was excerpted by The Hill.
The petition seeks to stay his latest appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
“Essentially, Chauvin wants the court to pause that appeal so he can send his case back to the local trial court to argue a brand-new claim that his original charges were unlawfully brought against him,” according to Fox News.
In 2023, Chauvin’s attempt to get the Supreme Court to hear his case was declined by the justices.
Musk’s claim that “the facts show that he was not the cause of death” could be a reference to Floyd’s autopsy report that found “no life threatening injuries” and the presence of fentanyl in his system.
Page 2 of George Floyd’s autopsy. If not for , you’d probably never see this. pic.twitter.com/rHWpLrg9ux
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 25, 2025
It’s not the first time that Musk has weighed in on the legal lynching.
Last year he backed a call from the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro for Chauvin to be pardoned.
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- Musk calls for Derek Chauvin’s release: ‘he is not a murderer’ - August 20, 2026
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