A former gang chief and one-time FBI informant accused of stabbing former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin in federal jail pleaded not responsible to associated expenses Friday.
John Turscak, who’s serving a 30-year sentence for crimes dedicated whereas a member of the Mexican Mafia jail gang, is accused of attacking Chauvin with an improvised knife within the Federal Correctional Establishment in Tucson, Arizona, round 12:30 p.m. on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
He was charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit homicide, assault with a harmful weapon, and assault leading to critical bodily harm two days after the Nov. 24 assault on Chauvin, who’s serving out a greater than two-decade sentence in connection to George Floyd’s loss of life.
Turscak, accused of stabbing Chauvin 22 occasions within the assault allegedly impressed by the BLM motion, pleaded not responsible throughout a Friday courtroom look.
DEREK CHAUVIN ‘DEAD MAN WALKING’ EVEN BEFORE THANKSGIVING STABBING: FORMER PRISON MINISTER
Derek Chauvin was convicted of homicide in George Floyd’s 2020 loss of life. (Courtroom TV through AP, Pool, File)
His jury trial is at present scheduled to start Feb. 13.
The alleged incident occurred simply 4 days after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom declined to hear Chauvin’s appeal of his homicide conviction. Individually, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal responsible plea, claiming new proof reveals he didn’t trigger Floyd’s loss of life on Could 25, 2020.
In an announcement launched on Dec. 3, Chauvin’s legal professional Gregory Erickson stated, “Derek’s family confirmed that his medical condition has improved to the extent that he has been removed from the trauma care facility at a local Tucson hospital and returned to prison custody for his follow-up care.”
Erickson added that the Chauvin’s household “is very concerned about the facility’s capacity to protect Derek from further harm,” and that “they remain unassured that any changes have been made to the faulty procedures that allowed Derek’s attack to occur in the first place.”
Derek Chauvin speaks throughout trial, invokes the Fifth Modification. (Courtroom TV)
Turscak instructed FBI brokers interviewing him after the assault that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter motion, which garnered widespread assist within the wake of Floyd’s caught on digicam loss of life in 2020, and the “Black Hand” image related to the Mexican Mafia, prosecutors have stated. After the stabbing, Turscak was moved to an adjoining federal penitentiary in Tucson, the Related Press reported final month, citing inmate data.
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Chauvin, 47, was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state jail in August 2022 to concurrently serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree homicide. Chauvin’s lawyer on the time, Eric Nelson, had advocated for holding him out of the final inhabitants and away from different inmates, anticipating he could be a goal. In Minnesota, Chauvin was primarily stored in solitary confinement “largely for his own protection,” Nelson wrote in 2022 courtroom papers.
Turscak led a faction of the Mexican Mafia within the Los Angeles space within the late Nineties and glided by the nickname “Stranger,” in line with courtroom data. He grew to become an FBI informant in 1997, offering details about the gang and recordings of conversations he had with its members and associates.
Protesters react after the responsible verdict was learn within the trial towards former police officer Derek Chauvin on April 20, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Scott Olson/Getty Photos)
The investigation Turscak was aiding led to greater than 40 indictments. however about halfway by, the FBI dropped Turscak as an informant as a result of he was allegedly nonetheless dealing medication, extorting cash and authorizing assaults. In response to courtroom papers, Turscak plotted assaults on rival gang members and was accused of making an attempt to kill a pacesetter of a rival Mexican Mafia faction whereas additionally being focused himself.
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Turscak pleaded responsible in 2001 to racketeering and conspiring to kill a gang rival. He stated he thought his cooperation with the FBI would have earned a lighter sentence.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
