Jury picked for ex-officers in Floyd case

Three men’s civil-rights charges don’t involve race, federal judge stresses

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A jury of 18 people who appeared mostly white was picked Thursday for the federal trial of three Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing, a case that the judge told potential jurors has “absolutely nothing” to do with race.

The jurors chosen to hear the case against former officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Kueng appeared to include one Asian among the 12 jurors who would deliberate if no alternates are needed, and a second person of Asian descent among the six alternates, with all others appearing white. The court declined to provide demographic information.

Thao, who is Hmong American; Lane, who is white; and Kueng, who is Black, are broadly charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority as Derek Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin the Black man to the street. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday.

The single day of jury selection was remarkably rapid compared with Chauvin’s trial on state charges, where the process took more than two weeks.

Magnuson told potential jurors they must be able to decide the case based upon its own evidence, setting aside anything else. He singled out some jurors by number and asked them pointedly if they could do so, saying he was “harping and harping and harping” because state and federal law are different and he wanted to ensure they could be objective.

Legal experts say the federal trial will be more complicated than the state trial, scheduled for June 13, because prosecutors in this case have the difficult task of proving the officers willfully violated Floyd’s constitutional rights — unreasonably seizing him and depriving him of liberty without due process.

Phil Turner, a former federal prosecutor, said prosecutors must show that officers should have done something to stop Chauvin, rather than that they did something directly to Floyd.

The jury pool was selected from throughout the state — much more conservative and less diverse than the Minneapolis area from which the jury for Chauvin’s state trial was drawn. That jury was evenly divided among whites and people of color. The federal court declined a request to provide demographic information on jurors in the civil rights trial.

Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9½ minutes while Floyd was facedown, handcuffed and gasping for air. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held down his legs. Thao kept bystanders from intervening.

A statement from attorneys for the Floyd family Thursday said bystander video showed that the three officers “directly contributed to [Floyd’s] death and failed to intervene to stop the senseless murder” and that the family expects them to be held accountable.

Several activists gathered in front of the courthouse to call for conviction.

Federal prosecutors face a high legal standard to show that an officer willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights. Essentially, prosecutors must prove that the officers knew what they were doing was wrong, but did it anyway.

Magnuson said he expects the trial will last four weeks.

Kueng, Lane and Thao are all charged with willfully depriving Floyd of the right to be free from an officer’s deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The indictment says the three men saw Floyd needed medical care and failed to help him.

Thao and Kueng are also charged with a second count alleging they willfully violated Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not stopping Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd’s neck. It’s not clear why Lane is not mentioned in that count, but evidence shows he asked twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side.

Both counts allege the officers’ actions resulted in Floyd’s death.

Such federal civil-rights violations are punishable by up to life in prison or even death, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.