Floyd accused face joint trial
The four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd will be tried together in Hennepin County District Court, the judge on the case has ruled.
Last week Judge Peter Cahill said Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao will start trial March 8 in the downtown Minneapolis courthouse, but he left open the possibility of reconsidering that decision before evidence is heard in the case.
In a handful of rulings, Cahill also said he would allow cameras in the courtroom to livestream the trial and will sequester the jury for the trial that could take more than a month. The jurors will also remain anonymous for their safety.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Floyd’s family, issued a statement praising Cahill’s rulings.
“Trying these officers together will give the jury a complete picture of what happened on the day that George was murdered,” Crump said. “The judge’s decision to keep the trial in Minneapolis is the right one. We never see Black defendants get a change of venue to increase the fairness of their trials, and the white officers involved in the death of George Floyd should rightly face a jury of their peers in the city where this tragedy took place.”
Kueng’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, issued a written statement saying he is reviewing Cahill’s orders.
“My goal is to assure that a fair trial occurs for Mr. Kueng,” Plunkett said. “We are happy to have the orders so we can start preparing for our trial and presenting the truth in front of a jury.”
Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, declined to comment on the rulings aside from supporting cameras in the courtroom. All of the defence attorneys filed a joint motion in June requesting camera access at trial.
“I’ve tried numerous cases in Wisconsin — murder cases all kinds of cases with high publicity — and they have cameras in the courtroom, and it should have been in the Minnesota courtrooms years ago,” Gray said. “It doesn’t interfere with anybody’s procedures in the courtroom. We never show the jury. They’re never on TV. It’s just the witnesses, the judge and the lawyer. I thought that’s way overdue.”
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, declined to comment. Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, could not be reached for comment.
Cahill cited multiple factors supporting a joint trial, including the similarity of the evidence in all four cases and the burden on prosecutors of trying them separately. The main evidence will include videos from the former officers’ body cameras, police training manuals, autopsy reports and eyewitness testimony, Cahill wrote.