The state trial of two former Minneapolis police officers over the death of George Floyd has been delayed once again, with a judge now pushing the start date back until January.
Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng were due to stand trial on Monday 13 June on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the Memorial Day 2020 murder of the Black 46-year-old, which sparked racial justice protests across the globe.
But just one week before the start date, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill postponed the trial until 5 January 2023, citing efforts to ensure the defendants receive a fair trial.
The judge, who also presided over the murder trial of their fellow officer Derek Chauvin, said that the publicity surrounding both the officers’ federal trial earlier this year and the change in plea from their co-defendant Thomas Lane had created “a reasonable likelihood of an unfair trial” if it were to go ahead next week as planned.
The defence had filed a motion requesting a change in venue because of the publicity surrounding the case. Judge Cahill denied that request but said he would implement a seven-month delay.
The state trial has been delayed multiple times already and will now take place almost three years on from Floyd’s murder back on 25 May 2020.
The latest delay comes just weeks after Thao and Kueng’s fellow officer Lane made the shock decision to plead guilty to the charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter on 18 May.
Under the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the charge of aiding and abetting second-degree murder against Lane.
The three former officers had been due to stand trial together on the charges prior to Lane changing his plea last month.
All three disgraced former officers were convicted in February of federal charges of depriving Floyd’s civil rights during his deadly arrest over a $20 counterfeit bill.
They were each convicted of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to provide him with medical care while Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin’s unreasonable use of force.
The verdict in the federal trial came after jurors heard how the three officers did nothing to try to stop Chauvin or to try to save the life of the Black man as he lay dying in the road.
Footage of his death showed white officer Chauvin kneeling on the Black man’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds until he passed out and died beneath his knee.
Floyd, a 46-year-old father, begged for air dozens of times, saying: “I can’t breathe.”
Kueng pinned down Mr Floyd’s back, Lane held down his legs and Thao kept a crowd of bystanders back and stopped them intervening.
Bystanders who had gathered on the scene shouted at the officers to stop and urged them to administer medical care to Floyd but were ignored.
Video of the fatal encounter sent shockwaves across the globe and led to calls for racial justice and an end to police brutality against Black people.
Chauvin, who was tried separately from the other three officers, was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter at his April 2021 state trial.
He was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison.
Chauvin was due to stand trial with the three other officers on the federal charges but avoided trial by reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors in December.
Under the terms of the deal, he pleaded guilty to civil rights charges in exchange for being moved to federal prison.
