Judge in Floyd case denies accused lawyer’s request to delay the trial

A JUDGE has said he will not delay or move the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged over George Floyd’s death, over concerns that a $27m settlement (£20m) for Mr Floyd’s family could taint the jury pool.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said he would allow the jury to hear limited evidence from Mr Floyd’s 2019 arrest, but only that pertaining to the cause of Mr Floyd’s death in 2020.

He acknowledged there are several similarities between the two incidents, including that Mr Floyd swallowed drugs after police confronted him.

Lawyer Eric Nelson, acting for former officer Derek Chauvin, had sought to halt or move the trial due to concerns that the settlement announcement had tainted the jury pool.

Jury selection was halfway complete last week when the city of Minneapolis unanimously approved the payout to settle a civil lawsuit over Mr Floyd’s death.

Mr Nelson called the timing of the settlement deeply disturbing and unfair, and said it jeopardised Chauvin’s chance for a fair trial. Chauvin is charged with murder and manslaughter.

But the judge, who has called the timing “unfortunate”, said he thought a delay would do nothing to stem the problem of pretrial publicity.

As for moving the trial, he said there was no place in Minnesota that has not been touched by that publicity.

The judge had previously denied a defence attempt to allow the year-old arrest at trial.

But he heard fresh arguments this week because of drugs found in January in a second search of the police car in which the four officers attempted to put Mr Floyd in 2020.

He said he would allow medical evidence of Mr Floyd’s physical reactions, such as his dangerously high blood pressure when he was examined by a paramedic in 2019, and a short clip of an officer’s body camera video.