"We need space" before the trial to let a federal case proceed, Judge Peter Cahill said, citing the need to let publicity ease about George Floyd's death.
USA TODAY
The trial of three former Minneapolis police officers accused of aiding and abetting in George Floyd s death will be pushed back to March 2022, so the federal case against them can first go forward, a judge ruled Thursday.
Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao were supposed to face trial Aug. 23, but Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said he felt the need to put some distance between their trial and the conviction of their co-defendant, former officer Derek Chauvin, given the intense public interest in his trial.
A jury found Chauvin guilty of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter last month. Viral bystander video captured Chauvin with his knee pressed into 46-year-old Floyd s neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd said he could not breathe.
The Minnesota judge who presided over Derek Chauvin's trial in George Floyd's death postponed the trial of the convicted murderer's three former police colleagues on Thursday until March 2022, in order to give federal prosecutors room to bring their civil rights case against the officers to a head first.
Updated May 13, 2021 at 3:23 PM ET
The trial on state charges facing Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao will be pushed back to March of 2022, a judge ruled Thursday. The former Minneapolis police officers are also facing federal charges over the killing of George Floyd that outweigh state charges of aiding and abetting.
The former officers trial had been set to begin on Aug. 23. But Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill postponed it until March 7, citing federal charges against the three that were announced last week. The judge also said he wants to put distance between the state trial and the massive publicity that surrounded Derek Chauvin s murder trial – which Cahill also oversaw.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill has ruled that there were aggravating factors in the death of George Floyd, paving the way for the possibility of a longer sentence for Derek Chauvin, according to an order made public Wednesday.
In his ruling dated Tuesday, Cahill found that Chauvin abused his authority as a police officer when he restrained Floyd last year and that he treated Floyd with particular cruelty. He also cited the presence of children when he committed the crime and the fact Chauvin was part of a group with at least three other people.
Cahill said Chauvin and two other officers held Floyd handcuffed in a prone position on the street for an “inordinate amount of time” and that Chauvin knew the restraint was dangerous.