Fed Trial Against 3 Cops In George Floyd's Death Starts Thursday

SAINT PAUL, MN — The federal trial against three former Minneapolis police officers who were charged in George Floyd's Memorial Day 2020 death will start Thursday.

The trial is being held at the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in downtown St. Paul. Federal Judge Paul A. Magnuson will preside over the trial.

In the spring of 2021, a federal grand jury indicted former offices Derek Chauvin, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao on civil rights violations in the death of Floyd.

The federal charges were in addition to the state charges filed against them.

Chauvin — who was convicted in the state courts of murder in Floyd's death in April 2021 — pleaded guilty in December to the federal charges.

Under the federal plea agreement, Chauvin faces a sentence between 20 and 25 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been determined.

The sentence will run currently with the 22.5 years he is already serving for his state murder conviction in Floyd's death.

Kueng, Lane, and Thao will stand together in both the federal and state trials. Unlike the state trial, which is set for June, the federal trial will not be live-streamed to the public.

The three-count indictment in the death of Floyd claims that the four men — acting in their capacity as police officers — "willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional rights." Their actions resulted in Floyd's death, the indictment states.

Count one

Count one specifically notes that Chauvin held his left knee on Floyd's neck — and his right knee on Floyd's back and arm — while Floyd was handcuffed and not resisting. Chauvin kept his knees on Floyd's body even after he became unresponsive, the count states.

The indictment claims that Chauvin's actions violated Floyd's constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.

Count two

Count two of the indictment claims Thao and Kueng "willfully failed to intervene to stop Chauvin's use of unreasonable force."

Count three

Count three of the indictment claims that all four ex-officers watched Floyd lying on the ground "in clear need of medical care and willfully failed to aid him."

All four former offices "willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes an arrestee's right to be free from a police officer's deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs," the indictment states.