The decision comes a week after the city agreed to pay $ 27 million to Floyd’s estate – an announcement defense attorneys claimed their client was biased during jury selection.
Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously last week to settle a lawsuit with Floyd’s family.
The public announcement of the settlement in the middle of the jury selection infuriated Chauvin’s defense, who claimed it biased jurors against their client. Attorney Eric Nelson asked Judge Peter Cahill to reschedule and postpone the trial in light of the publicity.
“The fact that this came right in the middle of the jury selection – it’s a mystery to me, Your Honor, whose idea it was to release this information when it was released,” said Nelson.
Cahill also decided on Friday to admit limited evidence of a May 6, 2019 meeting between Floyd and police.
Floyd’s 2019 arrest came just over a year before Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes when Floyd told Chauvin and three other officers that he couldn’t breathe.
“The whole point here is we have medical evidence of what happens when Mr. Floyd is faced with much the same situation,” the judge said.
The defense’s request to postpone the trial came as the second week of jury selection drew to a close in the trial of Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with the murder of Floyd on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s last moments videotaped, sparked widespread protests against police brutality and racism under the banner of Black Lives Matter and against incidents of unrest and looting.
The defense had previously requested that the trial be moved out of Minneapolis, but Cahill provisionally declined the request in November.
Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter. He also pleaded not guilty to third-degree murder, a charge reinstated in the case last week.
Twelve of the 14 jury members have already been selected. Two of those judges are alternates.