WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The three former Minneapolis police officers charged alongside Derek Chauvin for violating George Floyd's constitutional rights during the incident that caused his death should not share a trial with him, their lawyers argued before the US District Court in Minnesota on Tuesday.
Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane's lawyers said the defendants would not receive a fair trial by jury alongside Chauvin because the jurors would already know of his criminal conviction for murder, making the trial prejudicial for their clients.
The prosecution argued in response that the jurors would likely know of the conviction regardless of whether they are sharing the same courtroom as Chauvin and that much of the evidence being presented would overlap.
The men are facing Federal charges including willfully depriving Floyd of his rights and failing to intervene to stop said deprivation of rights. All of them pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.
Chauvin was already sentenced to 22.5 years in prison after being found guilty on charges of murder and manslaughter, while the other three former officers will face separate state criminal charges in March 2022.
The court entered a recess following the arraignment and discussions of the motion to sever the cases, having agreed to dates for the parties to receive a transcript of the hearing and enter their respective briefs but it did not set a future trial date.
