Motion denied!
The latest development in the George Floyd trial bodes ill for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin whose chances of receiving fair and unbiased treatment continue to dwindle.
On Friday, the defense was dealt a major blow when motions to delay the trial and to seek a change of venue out of a city where mob vengeance has trumped justice were both denied.
For Chauvin, who stands accused of murdering the 46-year-old petty criminal and drug addict last May, the deck continues to be stacked by vicious partisan prosecutors led by former Democrat congressman and DNC co-chair Keith Ellison who is now Minnesota’s attorney general.
Judge Peter Cahill, who had recently expressed dismay over the Minneapolis City Council’s pre-trial settlement with Floyd’s family for a whopping $27 million and that it could potentially taint the jury pool but he has apparently now moved past such concerns as the opening of legal arguments draws near as does the day when violence will erupt in a city where the air is so thick with tension that you could cut it with a knife.
The Derek Chauvin (the policeman charged with the murder of George Floyd) defense has been denied motions of delay and change of venue.
Judge: "I do not think there is any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity on this case." pic.twitter.com/SSWRpcQYP1— Apex World News (@apexworldnews) March 19, 2021
Via the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “Judge denies motion to delay or move Derek Chauvin trial, will allow evidence from 2019 Floyd arrest”:
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill on Friday denied the defense’s request to delay or move the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to another part of the state.
Cahill also ruled that some evidence from George Floyd’s previous arrest from May 2019 can be used in the trial. Additionally, he decided that the testimony of a prosecution witness about Floyd’s state of mind during the time of his 2020 arrest would not be admissible.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the May 25 arrest death of Floyd.
The three other former officers charged in connection with Floyd’s death — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — are scheduled to go to trial starting Aug. 23.
Earlier this week, Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson asked Cahill to delay or change the venue of the trial after news last week of the $27 million legal settlement between the city of Minneapolis and the Floyd family, arguing that it could taint the jury pool.
On Wednesday, Cahill questioned seven jurors who were seated before the settlement was announced, and removed two of them after they said the news impacted their impartiality. Cahill also ordered the defense be given three more peremptory strikes and the prosecution be given one extra strike due to the high publicity. The strikes allow each side to dismiss potential jurors without providing a reason why.
Cahill ruled Friday that while news of the settlement can impact the jury, delaying or moving the trial would make no difference. Extensive media coverage of the case has taken place and will continue to no matter where the trial is held, he said.
“I don’t think there’s any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity in this case,” he said.
In a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting the case, said “As we have said throughout, the state has been and is ready to proceed to trial on schedule. We look forward to presenting our case … to a fair and impartial jury in Hennepin County.”
The refusal to move the trial out of the simmering cauldron of racial animosity in Minneapolis to a more remote city in the northern part of the state ensures that jurors, witnesses, and offices of the court will be under the constant threat of violence as the mob outside of the Hennepin County Courthouse grows increasingly restive and thirsty for blood; blood that they will not be denied regardless of what the verdict turns out to be.
Perhaps Judge Cahill has spared any other location from the vengeance of the mob which would have surely been bussed in to any alternate location; as for Minneapolis, the city’s fate is already sealed with the only question being on how bad that the riots will be when they spread to the rest of the country.
