Ex-MPLS Cops On Trial Say No To Live Stream, Media Pushes Back

MINNEAPOLIS — Media companies are pushing back after former Minneapolis police officers Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng asked the court to ban live streams from their upcoming trials.

Kueng, Lane, and Thao assisted Chauvin in detaining George Floyd on the day he died. Each face one count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder and one count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Chauvin was convicted of murder in Floyd's death in April. His entire trial was made available on a live stream because the coronavirus pandemic limited the number of media members in the courtroom.

It was the first time a trial was broadcasted live in Minnesota history.

Attorneys wrote that "it is the worldwide publicity from the televised coverage of the Chauvin" trial that has "impaired" both Kueng and Lane's right to a fair trial

In response, media groups — including the Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio, KARE 11, CBS, FOX, KSTP, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, among others — pushed back in a memorandum filed Tuesday.

Among their arguments for live coverage include:

• "The pandemic is unfortunately not over."
• Live stream coverage "is an illogical scapegoat for the challenges Defendants face."
• "The unprecedented access to the Chauvin trial earned praise from all quarters."

"For the same reasons this Court overruled the State’s objections to a-v coverage at Derek Chauvin’s trial," the groups wrote, "it should overrule Defendants’ objections here."

State prosecutors are also in favor of providing a live stream of the trial, which is set to take place next year.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled in May that the state trial should occur after the federal civil rights case against the four former officers.