Minneapolis | Two jurors initially held in the George Floyd murder trial were dismissed Wednesday after admitting that the announcement of huge financial compensation between the Minneapolis city hall and the African-American’s family risked affecting their impartiality.
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The large city in the northern United States has agreed to pay $ 27 million in compensation to relatives of George Floyd, filmed on May 25 dying below the knee of white policeman Derek Chauvin, in order to put an end to a civil complaint for “Wrongful death”.
This agreement, at an unprecedented amount, was announced Friday, on the fifth day of the trial of this 44-year-old agent and when seven jurors had already been selected.
Derek Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, regretted this “suspicious” schedule, which could “incredibly influence the jurors”, and asked to postpone the trial or to disorient it. Judge Peter Cahill will rule on his requests on Friday.
But on Thursday, the magistrate questioned the seven jurors who had already been selected to find out what they thought of this agreement.
One of them, a young Hispanic man, admitted that the news had affected him “a lot”. “Clearly, the city of Minneapolis has strong opinions,” he said. “It comforts me” in my preconceptions against Derek Chauvin, he admitted.
“I was shocked, it sends the message that the city of Minneapolis feels something bad has happened,” said another young man, white this time.
Both were challenged by the judge.
This twist illustrates the extreme difficulty of selecting impartial jurors in this high-profile case which opened an unprecedented debate on police violence and racism in the United States.
This delicate phase must continue until the end of next week and the trial will get under way on March 29 for a verdict at the end of April.