George Floyd death: Ex-Minneapolis cop Thao defense argues medical examiner 'coerced' to alter autopsy finding

Lawyers representing former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao argued in a new court filing late Wednesday that the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on George Floyd was “coerced” by a prominent doctor in Washington, D.C., into altering its findings – and that prosecutors were aware.

The lawyers for Thao, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng – the three officers at the scene when Chauvin pressed his knee into the neck and upper back of Floyd for more than nine minutes – will be in court Thursday to argue pre-trial motions. One request asks that prosecutors be sanctioned or submit written affidavits stating that they were not responsible for leaking to the media that Chauvin agreed to plead guilty to a third-degree murder charge last year before then-Attorney General William Barr refused. In the filing on behalf of Thao, his attorneys, Robert and Natalie Paule, argued that Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, was "directly and indirectly coerced by the State and its agents." Baker performed an autopsy on Floyd on May 25, 2020, and told prosecutors the next day that he found "no physical evidence suggesting that Mr. Floyd died of asphyxiation," the attorneys wrote.