Protesters were up early in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to gather outside the Hennepin County Courthouse for the first in-person hearing in the pretrial for the officers involved in George Floyd’s death.
Former officers Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Keung, and Tou Thao arrived at the courthouse on Friday morning along with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to allow Judge Peter Cahill to hear their arguments. Attorneys for the four former officers are expected to ask that each officer be tried separately and that the trial be moved out of Hennepin County.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the courthouse to demonstrate on behalf of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in police custody on Memorial Day. One speaker told the crowd that the people must demand justice for the “coldblooded murder” of Floyd.
WATCH LIVE: Activists protest outside the Hennepin County Courthouse demanding justice for George Floyd as a motions hearing goes on inside for four former officers accused in Floyd’s death. https://t.co/Rz87YGbTLs pic.twitter.com/k8mTs6dj9U
— KARE 11 (@kare11) September 11, 2020
The trial is expected to last most of Friday and will focus on two main motions: the motion to hold separate trials for each officer and the motion to move the trials out of Minneapolis.
The state of Minnesota has asked the court to have all four former officers tried at the same time to save the court system time and resources as the same evidence and witnesses will be used in all four cases. The state argued that separate trials could take months or even years to complete, which could be “traumatizing” for Floyd’s family.
The former officers have asked the courts for separate trials because a joint trial could limit the defendants’ abilities to blame one another during the hearing. Thao’s attorney argued that there would be “side attacks” in the evidence presented against his client that may not be included if he received his own trial.
Thao’s attorney also noted that Thao “never touched” Floyd because he was managing the crowd during the incident. He cited that as one example of how the cases between Thao, Keung, and Lane differed despite all three being charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
On the motion to change locations for the trial, the former officers have all asked that the trial be moved somewhere outside of Minneapolis because they believe the juror pool has been tainted by remarks made by local officials. Each former officer has cited a different location where they want the trial to be moved to within Minnesota, including the more conservative metro counties of Washington County and Dakota County. Thao’s attorney suggested Crow Wing County, a rural county in northern Minnesota.
Cahill said during the pretrial on Friday that he would consider sending questionnaires to jurors in Hennepin County to get a measure on the bias within the jury pool. Cahill said he would also issue a ruling on whether jurors can remain anonymous and sequestered during the trial, which are requests from the former officers.
Regarding change of venue — Judge Cahill says he believes they would first need to send questionnaires to potential juries to see what effect pretrial publicity has had on them.
— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) September 11, 2020
Cahill noted that he would not be making any rulings on Friday and vowed to have most of the pretrial rulings announced by Oct. 15. He also explained that he would not be making any rulings related to the request from Lane to have his charges dropped.
Major George Floyd pre-trial hearing right now in Minneapolis. Judge said he will not be ruling today on potentially dropping any charges against four former officers. There was online rumor judge would “let them off.”
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) September 11, 2020
Floyd’s death spurred nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice after a video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck went viral. Some of the protests devolved into riots, including major riots in Minneapolis.
Attorneys for Chauvin and the other officers are expected to argue that Floyd died of an overdose because he had a fatal level of fentanyl in his system when he died. The trial dates for the officers have not been finalized, but they are expected to take place in March.
