Minneapolis May Have Blown The George Floyd Murder Trial After Making An Epic Mistake
The City of Minneapolis may have blown the George Floyd murder trial after making a epic mistake.
The judge presiding over Derek Chauvin’s trial may delay the trial after the city paid out $27 million in a civil case settlement to Floyd’s family.
Normally, lawsuits in cases like this are settled after the criminal proceeding is over.
Judge Peter Cahill agreed with Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s lawyer, that the timing of the payout is a complicating factor.
“You would agree it’s unfortunate, right?” Cahill asked the prosecution, led by Steve Schleicher.
“It’s certainly not my preference, your honor,” Schleicher said in response, adding that it wasn’t clear to him whether news of the settlement “cuts” in favor of the prosecution or the defense.
“The problem is, it cuts,” Cahill said.
The trial has started its second week and so far nine jurors have been selected.
Nelson said he was concerned his client can’t get a fair trial and that the announcement of the settlement was “very suspicious timing to say the least, and has an incredible propensity to taint a jury pool.”
It would appear that he was right, during jury selection some potential jurors have said the announcement tainted their opinion.
I don’t see how any verdict could be considered credible at this point. https://t.co/9j2PWCKllm
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) March 16, 2021
The judge now wants to question seven of the jurors already seated for the case and get their perspective of the $27 million civil settlement.
BREAKING: Judge Peter Cahill says 1st 7 jurors seated for #DerekChauvinTrial will be re-questioned *tomorrow morning* via Zoom about their potential knowledge of $27M #GeorgeFloyd civil settlement. Expecting each one to take 5 minutes. ONLY the judge will do questioning. @FOX9
— Paul Blume (@PaulBlume_FOX9) March 16, 2021
Trial experts agree the city made a huge mistake.
Mary Moriarty, former chief public defener of Hennepin County, where the trial is being held said the settlement announcement “was incredibly bad timing and extremely damaging to the defense and maybe the state.”
Experts claim that the settlement could influence jurors to decide that Chauvin was not guilty because the family was already compensated, or it could taint the jury into convicting him because the city paid such a large amount.
“It’s amazing to me, they had a press conference on Friday, where the mayor of Minneapolis is on stage with city council, and they’re using very, what I would say, very well-designed terminology,” Nelson said.
