Defense in Chauvin’s trial fears impact of $27M city settlement
MINNEAPOLIS — 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 trial impossible.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson also raised the possibility of renewing his previously unsuccessful motion to move Derek Chauvin’s trial to another city.
“I am gravely concerned with the news that broke on Friday,” Nelson said, adding that 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.
Mayor Jacob Frey deferred questions about the timing of the settlement to City Attorney Jim Rowader, who declined to comment. Representatives for both said they were following the judge’s guidance to not comment on the criminal proceedings.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher said the state had no control over Frey and the City Council, who announced Friday that Minneapolis had agreed to the settlement that Floyd family attorney Ben Crump called the largest pretrial settlement ever for a civil rights claim.
Interior secretary: The Senate on Monday confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as interior secretary, making her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet department and the first to lead the federal agency that has wielded influence over the nation’s tribes for nearly two centuries.
Haaland was confirmed by a 51-40 vote.
Democrats and tribal groups hailed Haaland’s confirmation as historic, saying her selection means that Indigenous people — who lived in North America before the United States was created — will for the first time see a Native American lead the powerful department where decisions on relations with the nearly 600 federally recognized tribes are made. Interior also oversees a host of other issues, including energy development on public lands and waters, national parks and endangered species.
“Rep. Haaland’s confirmation represents a gigantic step forward in creating a government that represents the full richness and diversity of this country,’’ said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Nashville bomber: The man who blew himself up inside his recreational vehicle in a Christmas Day bombing in Nashville, Tennessee, was grappling with paranoia and eccentric conspiracy theories, but there are no indications he was motivated by social or political ideology, the FBI said Monday in closing out the investigation into the blast.
The FBI statement sets out to resolve some of the lingering mysteries of an explosion that initially perplexed investigators and the public because it appeared to lack an obvious motive or fit a clear profile.
Though the blast damaged dozens of buildings, it took place early on a holiday morning well before downtown streets would be bustling with activity and was preceded by a recorded announcement warning anyone in the area that a bomb would soon detonate.
The FBI concluded that the bomber, Anthony Quinn Warner, chose the location and timing so that it would be impactful while still minimizing the likelihood of “undue injury.”
Despite online speculation that Warner may have been motivated by conspiracy theories about 5G technology, given the proximity of the explosion to an AT&T building and the resulting havoc to cellphone service in the area, FBI spokesperson Joel Siskovic said the investigation found no indication that AT&T had anything to do with Warner’s selection of the location.
Brexit objections: The divorce between the U.K. and the EU is turning nastier by the day.
The European Union said Monday that it is starting legal action against the United Kingdom, arguing the former member does not respect the conditions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement and is violating international law.
The 27-nation EU is objecting to Britain unilaterally extending a grace period beyond April 1 that applies to trade on the island of Ireland, where the EU and the United Kingdom share a land border and where a special trade system was set up as part of the Brexit divorce deal.
It marks a further worsening of relations between the two sides since a divorce transition period ended Jan. 1. Disputes have ranged from fights over vaccines, to the full diplomatic recognition of the EU in Britain and now again the terms of the divorce agreement. Rockies storm: Denver’s airport reopened Monday after a powerful late-winter snowstorm dumped over 3 feet of heavy, wet snow on parts of Colorado and Wyoming, shutting down roads, closing state legislatures in both states and interfering with COVID-19 vaccinations.
The 27 inches that had fallen by the end of Sunday at Denver International Airport on the plains east of downtown made it the fourth biggest snowfall in the city’s history, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.
3 die when car hits 9: A driver lost control and veered onto a sidewalk Monday dotted with homeless tents in downtown San Diego, killing three people and injuring six others, police said.
The driver, whom authorities identified only as a 71-year-old man, was heading through a tunnel underneath a community college campus when he drove his Volvo station wagon up on the sidewalk shortly after 9 a.m., said San Diego police Chief David Nisleit.
The man was arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired.
Three people died at the scene. Five of the six others who were injured were taken to hospitals, including two who were in critical condition, authorities said.
Police raid over hack: Swiss authorities Monday confirmed a police raid at the home of Tillie Kottmann, a software engineer, who took credit for helping break into a U.S. security-camera company’s online networks, part of what the activist hacker cited as an effort to raise awareness about the dangers of mass surveillance.
Kottmann had identified as a member of a group of hacktivists who say they were able to view live feeds and peer into hospitals, schools, factories, jails and corporate offices last week after gaining access to California startup Verkada.