As previously noted, four Minneapolis policeman—Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao–face a federal grand jury indictment over the death of George Floyd in the District of Minnesota. They are charged with allegedly using the “color of the law” to deprive George Floyd of his constitutional rights to be “free from the use of unreasonable force” when Chauvin held Floyd down by the neck for more than nine minutes while the others did nothing to stop Chauvin. In addition, all four are charged with failing to help provide medical care to Floyd and “thereby acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of harm.” [1]
All four of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Denial of Severance of the Four Cases
On November 29, U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony Leung denied the motions by the last three ex-policemen to sever their federal cases from the one against Derek Chauvin. [2]
The Magistrate Judge said said the attorneys making the motions had failed to prove that Chauvin’s conviction would prevent their clients from receiving a fair trial.
Elaborating on the reasons for that conclusion, the Magistrate Judge said the charges against Chauvin are not identical to the others, but there is “significant overlap and interplay” in the allegations. “Also, the Government will be using essentially the same substantive evidence against each of the Defendants at trial. There will be witnesses. A number, if not a majority, of these same witnesses will be called to testify regardless of whether Chauvin is tried jointly with Thao, Kueng and Lane. The events at issue occurred during a short temporal period on a single day in a single location. In addition to the discrete unities of time and place, there can be no genuine dispute that all four Defendants were at the scene of the events giving rise to this case.”
This decision was made “without prejudice,” meaning that if these three defendants object to this ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson, who will be presiding over the trial, may make his own ruling on the motion.
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[1] Indictment, U.S. v. Chauvin, Thao, Kueng and Lane, U.S. Dist. of Minn. (Case 0:21-cr-00108-PAM-TNL (May 6, 2021); Federal Court Charges Against Ex-Minneapolis Policemen Over George Floyd’s Killing, dwkcommentaries.com (May 7, 2021).
[2] Mannix, Former Minneapolis officers should be tried together in federal case, says magistrate judge, StarTribune (11/29/21).
