Trial postponed for 3 ex-cops charged in George Floyd’s murder
The trial of three former Minneapolis cops charged in George Floyd’s murder has been postponed until next year so the trio can focus on a newly filed federal indictment accusing them of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
A judge announced Thursday that the highly anticipated trial, originally scheduled to begin in August, will start on March 8, 2022. The suspects — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Prosecutors say the men’s actions on May 25, 2020, contributed to Floyd’s murder at the hands of Derek Chauvin, the convicted ex-cop who knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. The three remain free on bond.
Judge Peter Cahill said the former lawmen deserve “space” from the publicity expected to arise from Chauvin’s sentencing next month, according to local media reports. In a pretrial hearing , Cahill also said the new federal case should be dealt withbefore the men’s joint state trial begins.
Prosecutor Matthew Frank reportedly told the court he did not agree with Cahill’s decision to delay the trial.
Earlier this week, the judge also denied multiple media requests to bring cameras into the courtroom for future pretrial hearings Cahill said the case has “already received substantial” coverage and that additional video of the proceedings would “risk tainting” a potential jury pool.
The decision todelay comes a day after another major ruling. On Wednesday, Cahill said that Chauvin can face a longer prison sentence because of four aggravating factors, including the presence of four underage bystanders at the crime scene and his “particular cruelty” during the arrest. The disgraced ex-cop is set to be sentenced June 25.
Chauvin and his three former colleagues now face a federal trial accusing them of violating Floyd’s “constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.” They are also charged with willfully failing to provide life-saving efforts as Floyd lay on the ground “in clear need of medical care,” the indictment alleges.
Thao and Kueng face an additional allegation that they “willfully failed to intervene” to stop Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force during the caught-on-video encounter, prosecutors said.
Keung and Lane were the first to arrive at the Cup Foods convenience store where workers accused Floyd of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. The pair later helped Chauvin hold Floyd face-down on the pavement while Thao tried to keep bystanders away.
