MINNEAPOLIS -- The judge overseeing the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd's death, rejected a defense request to delay or move the proceedings because of pretrial publicity related to the city's $27 million civil settlement with Floyd's family.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill ruled on motions from Eric Nelson, Chauvin's attorney, who asked for a continence and a change-of-venue in the case, saying he was "gravely concerned" that news of the settlement had tainted the jury pool and compromised his client's right to a fair trial.
But the judge, while acknowledging there was extensive "prejudicial pretrial publicity" in the case, said he did not find sufficient grounds to delay the trial or move the proceedings - pointing in part to the faster-than-expected pace of jury selection, which wrap up as soon as Friday.
"As far as change of venue, I do not think that that would give the defendant any kind of a fair trial beyond what we are doing here today," Cahill said."I don't think there's any place in the state of Minnesota that has not been subjected to extreme amounts of publicity on this case."
Cahill also ruled that he will allow Chauvin's defense to mention limited details of a 2019 interaction between Floyd and the Minneapolis police that was similar to the 2020 incident that left the 46-year-old Black man dead. He also will limit the testimony of a prosecution witness, a forensic psychiatrist who is being called to talk about Floyd's reaction to officers at the 2020 scene, but said he was open to reconsidering that decision during the trial.
The major decisions come as jury selection in the case nears a finish. On Thursday, three more jurors were picked for the trial - bringing the total number of those seated to 12. The court now needs just two alternates - though Cahill had previously indicated he might seek up to four.
On Wednesday, Cahill dismissed two of the seven jurors who had been seated in the case last week before Minneapolis officials announced the city's record $27 million payout to Floyd's family. Both told the judge it had compromised their ability to presume Chauvin innocent. But the court quickly replaced them with other jurors that same day.
In all, an additional seven jurors have been seated this week - including five who said they had seen news of the settlement but insisted it would not influence their decision-making.
Cahill agreed with prosecutors who had pointed to the steady pace of jury selection this week as proof that pretrial publicity, including about the settlement, had not harmed Chauvin's right to a fair trial.
But Nelson has strongly implied jurors won't be able to put the news out of their minds, even if they swear under oath that they are able to do so.
Cahill called the news of the settlement "unfortunate" and described the defense concerns as "legitimate' but said Friday he ultimately believed the proceedings had not been compromised.
Nelson has repeatedly complained about the "suspicious timing" of the $27 million settlement - including on Thursday when he alerted the judge to comments made at a news conference with Minneapolis city officials where the city attorney admitted the settlement with the Floyd family was not yet final and still subject to approval by a federal judge.
Mayor Jacob Frey, a civil rights attorney, also told reporters he "disagreed with the underlying premise" that the settlement had affected Chauvin's trial but declined to comment further, citing requests from Cahill to stop talking about the case.
In court Nelson quickly seized on those comments, again questioning the motives of city officials and whether the settlement announcement "was necessary" given the agreement was not final and would not be for weeks.
Prosecutors later complained about Nelson's comments, prompting a fiery exchange between the attorneys and Cahill, who angrily ordered all the parties involved to "stop talking about it."
"I've asked Minneapolis to stop talking about it. They keep talking about it. We keep talking about it. Everybody just stop talking about it," Cahill said. "Let me decide what the ramifications are. Are we clear on this?"
On Friday, Cahill again hinted at his displeasure about the city's handling of the settlement and the continued comments of city officials about the case, but ultimately said he had no control over their actions.
Nelson had also pressed Cahill to reconsider allowing a May 6, 2019, incident between Floyd and Minneapolis police to be presented to the jury.
In that incident, Floyd was handcuffed and placed in a police car without confrontation and taken to a police station, where he told officers he had swallowed as many as eight Percocet pills - a powerful prescription narcotic.
Cahill had repeatedly declined to allow mention of the 2019 incident at trial, saying it is irrelevant to Chauvin's case.
But Nelson this week argued the incident was relevant on medical grounds as proof of how Floyd's body responded to drugs that he admitted he had taken. He said it is central to the defense argument that Floyd's health issues and a high level of drugs in his system at the time of his arrest killed him, not the pressure from Chauvin's knee.
On Friday, Cahill said he would allow limited details about the 2019 incident as it relates to Floyd's medical condition at the scene - including a snippet of body camera video showing an officer pointing a gun at Floyd as was pulled from the car and photographs of pills found in the vehicle.
Cahill also granted a defense motion to limit the testimony of Sarah Vinson, a physician who specializes in psychiatry, who is being called by prosecutors to talk about how humans respond to stress and traumatic scenes and what symptoms of anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder look like.
The defense had sought to limit Vinson's testimony, arguing her analysis of Floyd is "speculative" and not based on scientific fact - an argument that Cahill agreed with, ruling that she cannot talk about Floyd's state of mind. Prosecutors said Vinson was being called to rebut defense claims about Floyd's behavior at the scene, including that he was resisting arrest.
Cahill said Friday he was open to reconsidering his decision on Vinson's testimony at trial, but warned it could open the door for the defense to tell the jury details about Floyd's criminal history that he has so far blocked from the case.
WASHINGTON POST