Will $27M settlement in Floyd lawsuit affect trial?

The decision to announce a $27 million settlement in a lawsuit filed over George Floyd’s death – days into jury selection for a criminal trial against the officer who is accused of killing him – complicates an already tricky prosecution.

Floyd’s death, under the knee of then-police officer Derek Chauvin, sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Now, the city of Minneapolis has settled a civil rights lawsuit against the city and the four officers who restrained him.

The settlement “was incredibly bad timing and extremely damaging to the defense and maybe the state,” said Mary Moriarty, former Hennepin County, Minnesota, chief public defender. A potential juror could presume there’s no need to convict Chauvin because the Floyd family had already received a large settlement, she said.

Chauvin is on trial on charges of secondand third-degree murder and manslaughter. If he’s convicted, the settlement could provide strong grounds for an appeal and cause the conviction to be overturned, she said.

Prosecutors have been careful to avoid potential causes for appeal, Moriarty said. “This certainly creates one. Not of their doing.”

Floyd’s family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in July against the city, Chauvin and three other officers charged in his death. It alleged that the officers violated Floyd’s rights when they restrained him and that the city allowed a culture of excessive force, racism and impunity to flourish in its police force.

When court convened Monday morning, Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, said he was “gravely concerned” about the effect the settlement could have on potential jurors.

He called the timing of the settlement suspicious and said it “has an incredible propensity to taint a jury pool.” He noted that the seven jurors already selected could come across a headline while scrolling through Facebook. Jurors are not allowed to view or read any media coverage, but social media is allowed.

Nelson asked Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill to delay the case, change the venue of the trial and sequester all jurors for the duration of the trial. As of now they will be sequestered only during deliberations.

Steve Schleicher, a special assistant attorney general, said there was no reason to delay the trial. “It would be our strong preference that we be trying this case in a vacuum with no pretrial publicity,” he said. “It would make things less complicated, but that’s just not where we are.”

Cahill said he would consider the motion to delay the case, but attorneys watching the case said it was unlikely that would happen.