Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has asked a Minneapolis judge for a new trial, court records show.

The move comes two weeks after Chauvin was found guilty of second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.

In a series of motions filed on Tuesday (local time) to District Court Judge Peter Cahill, Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson said his client was deprived of a fair trial, adding there was prosecutorial and jury misconduct, errors of law at trial and that the verdict was contrary to law.

On April 20, a 12-member jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty on all three counts he faced after considering three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts.

The rare verdict against a police officer is considered a milestone in the fraught racial history of the US and a rebuke of law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans.

In a confrontation captured on video, Chauvin, a white veteran of the police force, pushed his knee into the neck of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020.

Chauvin and three fellow officers were attempting to arrest Mr Floyd, accused of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store.

-AAP