Trial for two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death delayed until 2023

Two former Minneapolis police officers charged in the fatal arrest of George Floyd will wait until January to stand trial, a judge ruled Monday.

The trial of Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng has been delayed until Jan. 5, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ordered, agreeing with the pair’s lawyers that a later date will separate them from their former colleague Thomas Lane’s guilty plea last month and their federal convictions.

J. Alexander Kueng, left, and Tou Thao

Cahill did refuse to move venues, saying that the story was national news and no alternate location would have less information about the Black man’s death that sparked protests around the country in the summer of 2020.

Kueng and Thao are each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death after Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his back for more than nine minutes until he couldn’t breathe.

In this image from surveillance video, Minneapolis Police officers from left, Tou Thao, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are seen attempting to take George Floyd into custody in Minneapolis, Minn on May 25, 2020.

Lane and Kueng helped Chauvin restrain Floyd outside the Minneapolis convenience store while Thao shooed bystanders away.

Lane, who was supposed to stand trial with Kueng and Thao, pleaded guilty in May to a second-degree manslaughter charge. That plea, Keung and Thao’s lawyers argued, would be inextricably linked to them in the eyes of the jury, meaning they would not face a fair trial.

George Floyd

Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 22½ years behind bars in his state trial that ended in April.

Kueng, Lane and Thao were also convicted in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights and causing his death in February and are still awaiting sentencing.

With News Wire Services