*(Via WSJ.com) – A Hennepin County district judge delayed until March the trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter when they helped Derek Chauvin restrain George Floyd.
The three men involved in the May 25, 2020 killing of Mr. Floyd include Thomas Lane, who held down Mr. Floyd’s legs, J. Alexander Kueng, who knelt on Mr. Floyd’s back, and Tou Thao, who kept onlookers at bay. Mr. Chauvin, who was convicted April 20 of second-degree murder and manslaughter, kneeled on Mr. Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25.
The men had previously been scheduled to go on trial in August but the judge said he chose to delay the trial so that a federal case could go first. A federal grand jury indicted all four former officers on charges of violating Mr. Floyd’s constitutional rights.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill denied a defense motion to move the trial, but said given all the publicity surrounding the trial, it would make more sense for the federal case to move forward first.
“The bottom line is this case is not going to trial in August,” Mr. Cahill said at a hearing Thursday. “We need some distance from all the publicity that has occurred and is going to occur.”
Get the full story at WSJ.com.
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