Ex-Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's death to be tried separately, judge rules

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

MINNEAPOLIS — Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer filmed with his knee on George Floyd's neck and is charged with his murder, will be tried separately from the other officers implicated in the death as the court seeks to lower the risk of coronavirus spread at the courthouse.

In a ruling Tuesday, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter A. Cahill, who is overseeing the criminal case into Floyd’s death, announced Chauvin will stand trial beginning March 8, at a downtown Minneapolis courthouse. The other three ex-officers charged in Floyd’s death — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao — will stand trial August 23.

The ruling came after prosecutors and attorneys for Chauvin and Thao had asked the court to delay the trial until summer.

Prosecutors expressed concerns the trial could become a coronavirus “superspreader event,” citing the large number of participants and expected protests outside the courthouse. They had asked the judge to delay proceedings until June when more of the population might have received the coronavirus vaccine.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/minneapolis-police-officers-charged-in-george-floyds-death-to-be-tried-separately-judge-rules/2021/01/12/23e2d288-54d0-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html

[Phoenix61]

1. Good! nt