The murder trial of former soldier Derek Chauvin in George Floyd’s death will come to a decisive point on Wednesday – in this case a $ 27 million settlement with a Minneapolis judge will be heard with quiz jewelers and decide whether to stop the trial Yes or No.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill said that if he reported the wrongful death to Floyd’s family on Friday, he would first ask seven seated gamblers in a highly divisive case, so that their ability to be fair had changed.
Seven gamblers had been seated even before the news of the settlement broke – Chauvin’s lawyers said they may have tarnished the jury pool.
If any of them have an excuse, the already challenging jury selection process can be even more difficult.
Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson said on Tuesday, “You have chosen the officials, the governor, the mayor, about the case.”
“You have the city settling a civil lawsuit for a record amount of money, and pre-trial publicity is just that,” Nelson said. “I’m looking at the fact that we still need three sitting juries and two alternative options.”
Nelson has used 11 of his 15 allocated jury challenges – including two on Tuesday – and has asked Cahill for more challenges to make it harder for fair gamblers to find them.
The judge denied the request, but called the city’s declaration of civil settlement “unfortunate” amid jury selection.
“Especially problematic, and I said so, because the presumption of innocence has an effect,” Cahill said. “But let’s face it. It is not a legal decision. This is a political decision. ”
Still, Cahill said he would question the first seven gamblers through Zoom if they had a change of heart after learning that the city opted to settle instead of fighting the Floyd family’s wrongful death lawsuit.
Cahill said he is still considering Nelson’s request to stop the trial and his earlier request that the proceedings be moved out of Minneapolis, and could rule on Wednesday.
Cahill said he would also rule on Thursday on Nelson’s request to allow him to use bodymark videos of Floyd’s earlier arrests in 2019.
However, Steve Schleicher, a lawyer serving on the prosecution team, argued that Chauvin’s defense team is mistaken about the settlement’s effect on Xu.
“I think this $ 27 million agreement has clearly been blown out of proportion,” Schleicher said. “And I think that’s reflected in what we’ve seen so far.”
He said that only three of the 14 potential gamblers questioned at this point have said that they had seen news of the settlement – one said he could put it aside.
So far, nine gamblers have been chosen, although all potential panelists interviewed on Tuesday were rejected by judges or lawyers.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree and third-degree murder and May 25 death in police custody of Floyd.
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