George Floyd Prosecutors File Appeals For COVID-Related Trial Delay, Trying All 4 Men Together

CBS Minnesota

January 28, 2021

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The trial for one of the former officers charged in the death of George Floyd could be delayed — possibly for months.

Right now, jury selection for the trial of Derek Chauvin is set to begin March 8. However, prosecutors filed an appeal late Thursday to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, asking for the Chauvin trial to be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors are also asking the appeals court to overturn the decision to try Chauvin separately from the three other officers in the case: J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. Chauvin was the officer seen on video with his knee to George Floyd’s neck for almost eight minutes on May 25, 2020.

Prosecutors continued the COVID argument they made earlier this month in an affidavit from University of Minnesota infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm. In that affidavit, Osterholm said, “Holding a trial in this case in March 2021 will be particularly dangerous because the new, more-contagious variant of the coronavirus will likely be present at this time.”

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