$27M award taints trial – cop’s lawyer

An attorney for a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death asked the judge Monday to delay the trial, saying the announcement of a $27 million settlement for Floyd’s family could make a fair process impossible.

Defense attorney Eric Nelson also raised the possibility of renewing his previously unsuccessful motion to move ex-cop Derek Chauvin’s trial to another city. “I am gravely concerned with the news that broke on Friday,” Nelson said, adding the announcement “has incredible potential to taint the jury pool.”

Nelson also noted that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s son Jeremiah sits on the City Council that unanimously approved the settlement, and questioned the timing, though he said he was not making accusations. Keith

Ellison heads the prosecution team and often has been present in the courtroom.

During a break in jury selection, Keith Ellison stopped at Nelson’s table and said, “Is there anything else anyone would like to not accuse me of?” Nelson looked at Ellison but did not reply.

Absent a delay or change of venue, Nelson urged Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill to consider giving both sides extra strikes to remove potential jurors for possible bias, and to recall the seven jurors seated last week to ask if the settlement affected their view of the case.

Cahill agreed to consider the request for a delay, but didn’t think it would be appropriate to grant additional strikes to either side. He said he likely would recall the seven previously seated jurors for further questioning, though he already instructed members of the jury pool to avoid all news coverage of the case.

He previously denied a request to move the trial, saying coverage of Floyd’s death was so pervasive that moving the trial was “unlikely to cure the taint of potential prejudicial pretrial publicity.”

Floyd, a Black man, was declared dead on May 25 after Chauvin (inset), who is white, pressed his knee against his neck for about nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked sometimes violent protests in Minneapolis and beyond and led to a national reckoning on racial justice. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.