A judge denied the defense request to move or delay the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was charged over George Floyd’s death.
The request comes a week after the record $27m settlement between the city and Floyd’s family was announced, raising concerns that the jury may be tainted.
Last May, George Floyd died when Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck in the street during an attempted arrest.
Chauvin was fired from duty and is standing trial for murder and federal civil rights charges, with opening arguments expected before the end of the month.
Three other former officers, who were charged with aiding and abetting, will stand trial in August.
In a separate ruling in the current case,
The Hennepin county judge Peter Cahill said the jury selected for Chauvin’s trial would be allowed to hear limited evidence from an earlier arrest of Floyd in 2019 – but only the evidence pertaining to the cause of Floyd’s death in 2020.
The judge acknowledged the several similarities between the two incidents, including that Floyd swallowed controlled drugs after police confronted him.
The rulings derailed Chauvin’s defense.
Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, sought to stop or move the trial over concerns that the settlement announcement had tainted the jury pool.
By the time the when the city of Minneapolis unanimously approved the payout to settle a civil lawsuit over Floyd’s death, jury selection was already halfway complete.
Nelson argued that the timing of the settlement is 1deeply disturbing and unfair, pointing out that it jeopardized Chauvin’s chance for a fair trial.
Cahill, who has called the timing “unfortunate,” defended that a delay would do nothing to stem the problem of pre-trial publicity.
He added that there is no place in Minnesota that that publicity had not touched; hence moving the trial would be pointless.