The murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd is gearing up to be quite a protracted one. In other wordsâthe process of winning criminal accountability for the heinous killing of 46-year-old Floyd, whose neck Chauvin knelt on for nearly nine minutes last May, is unlikely to be smooth or simple, but did we expect it to be?
Following Fridayâs announcement that the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to award Floydâs family a record $27 million to settle their wrongful death civil lawsuit, Chauvinâs defense lawyer Eric Nelson is now asking that the copâs trial be delayed due to what he described as the âsuspicious timingâ of the settlement, reports the Washington Post.
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Nelson has also requested that the court call back jurors who have already been selected for the trial to see if they heard news of the settlement and whether this has impacted their ability to be impartial. The judge presiding over the trial says he will grant this request from the defense.
From CNN:
In a hearing Monday, Nelson said he is âgravely concernedâ by the announcement, calling it âincredibly prejudicial.â
âItâs amazing to me, they had a press conference on Friday, where the mayor of Minneapolis, on stage with city council, and theyâre using very, what I would say, very well-designed terminology. âThe unanimous decision of the city council,â for example. It just goes straight to the heart of the dangers of pretrial publicity,â Nelson said.
The defense said a delay of the trial or more questioning of jurors would be among the appropriate remedies.
The prosecution acknowledged that the timing of the settlement was âunfortunateâ but pushed back against the defenseâs proposed remedies.
Judge Peter Cahill, who is overseeing the trial, said he would call the seven jurors already selected in the case back and question them about the settlement. He said he would take the defense motion for a delay under advisement.
Nelson is also asking that the trial be moved out of Hennepin County, Minnesota, an option that the presiding judge had floated last year when he warned attorneys in the case to refrain from making public comments that could prejudice a jury. Cahill has yet to rule on this request.
Cahill did say he wished the city hadnât announced the $27 million settlement while jury selection in Chauvinâs trial is underway but added that he doesnât sense âany evil intent in the timing.â
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey joined the Floyd family and their attorney Ben Crump at a press conference on Friday to announce the historic settlement from the city. The $27 million is the largest payout for police misconduct Minneapolis has ever made. According to the Post, the $20 million settlement from the city to the family of Justine Damondâa woman who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2017âwas not announced until 2019, after the cop had been convicted.
The Root has reached out to Crump for a comment on the charge that the announcement may taint the jury pool for Chauvinâs trial, which could ultimately make it harder for a fair case to be tried against the former officer in the pursuit of criminal justice for Floydâs death.
During jury selection on Monday, Cahill excused one potential juror for cause after she admitted to hearing about the settlement and said that she could not be impartial in light of the cityâs choice to settle.
Seven jurors have already been seated in the trial, which is set to begin with opening statements on March 29. However, since Cahill has agreed to call back jurors and question them about their views on the settlement, the start of arguments in the trial may very well end up being delayed anyway.
Chauvin is facing charges of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder in the death of Floyd. The trial of three other former Minneapolis officersâJ. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thaoâfor their role in Floydâs death, is scheduled to take place in August.
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