ST. PAUL, Minn. – Eighteen jurors began hearing arguments in the rial of three Minneapolis police officers accused of violating the civil rights of George Floyd. The three were there in 2020 as fellow officer Derek Chauvin held Floyd down in a fatal neck hold for 9-1/2 minutes, for which he has been convicted of murder. The charges:
> J. Kueng: Failing to provide Floyd with medical care and failing to stop Chauvin.
> Thomas Lane: Failing to provide Floyd with medical care.
> Tou Thao: Failing to provide Floyd with medical care and failing to stop Chauvin.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson expects the trial to take as long as four weeks.
Jury profile
The trial has racial overtones. the death of Floyd, a black man, sparked weeks of national protests against overzealous white policing. Chauvin is white. Kueng is black. Lane is white. Thao is of Hmong lineage. The 18-person jury includes six alternate jurors. The court hasn’t provided a demographic breakdown of jurors, but two of the jurors appear to be of Asian descent. The rest appear to be white.