Opening arguments are expected to get underway today in the trial of three officers in the murder of George Floyd, reports the Independent.
All three officers lost their job with the Minneapolis Police Department in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. A jury on April 20 found Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the case.
Tou Thao faces charges for preventing bystanders from coming to Floyd’s help as Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes- leading to Floyd’s death. J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane face charges for assisting Chauvin in restraining Floyd who was accused of paying for something with a $20 counterfeit bill.
According to USA Today, attorneys selected 18 jurors to serve in the federal trial. Most of the jurors appear to be White, although the court declined to release demographic information. One appears to be Asian as does one of the six alternates.
Lane is White, Keung is Black and Thao is Hmong American.
All three face charges for allegedly violating federal law for abusing their authority. They also face accusations of failing to provide medical aid.
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“Now the question is: who else gets held accountable?” said David Schultz, a law professor at the University of Minnesota said to Trust.org. “Am I my fellow officer’s keeper? If I see Derek Chauvin do something wrong, do I have some kind of duty to intervene?”
“This is about the actions that were not taken,” said Mark Osler, a law professor and former prosecutor to the Trust. “This is a very different trial.”
All three defendants pleaded not guilty.
Thao and Keung face an additional count saying they “willfully failed” to stop Chauvin of using excessive force.
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