The three former Minneapolis police officers charged in connection to the death of George Floyd petitioned a judge on Tuesday to separate their trials from proceedings related to Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of murder.
Lawyers for J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao argued that information made public during Chauvin’s trial would confuse jurors, deprive their clients of fair proceedings, and lead to a conflict of interest, as the jury would be unable to “follow the Court’s instructions and compartmentalize” previously available evidence, according to court filings obtained by the Associated Press.
An attorney representing Thomas Lane has since filed a motion to join the other lawyers in their petition.
In addition to being indicted by a grand jury, Kueng, Thao, and Lane were charged in state court. Their trial was physically separated from Chauvin’s due to coronavirus-related space restrictions.
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Bob Paule, Thao’s attorney, argued in the motion that his client’s proceedings should be separate, not only from Chauvin, but from his co-defendants as well.
“The jury will have insurmountable difficulty distinguishing the alleged acts of each defendant from the alleged acts of his co-defendants,” Paule said.
“Mr. Thao will obtain a fair and more impartial trial [if] he is tried separately from his co-defendants,” the lawyer added.
Kueng, Thao, and Lane were each slapped with charges of aiding and abetting murder shortly after Chauvin was jailed for the killing of Floyd on May 25, 2020. Chauvin, who served in a supervisory role, knelt on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes.
In May, prosecutors from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office asked an appeals court judge to undo a previous ruling that blocked an attempt to include third-degree aiding and abetting murder to the list of charges faced by the three lower officers.
In June, a three-judge panel OK’d the prosecution’s move.
The defense team for the ex-officers at the time of the initial plea insisted the move was inappropriate because a defendant could be guilty of third-degree abetting even if the act was unintentional.
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Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill has postponed the trial of Thao, Kueng, and Lane to March 8, 2022, after they were previously scheduled to appear in late August 2021. Cahill made the move in May, citing lingering publicity from the trial of Chauvin, which took place in April.
