MINNEAPOLIS _ The attorney for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with murdering George Floyd, is asking a judge to rescind a gag order issued last week prohibiting attorneys and others from discussing the case.
Eric Nelson filed a motion Monday accusing Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill's gag order of violating Chauvin's state and federal constitutional rights to free speech and a public trial.
Nelson also criticized the media, public officials and others for contributing to the "overwhelming pretrial publicity damning Mr. Chauvin."
"Given the global extent and tenor of pretrial publicity in this case, halting the flow of any information from Mr. Chauvin, through his counsel _ before even a single statement has been made _ to the public is more likely to prejudice the jury pool (to the extent that it has not already) than to prevent a taint," Nelson wrote. "The Court's order effectively allows the repeated and unmitigated condemnation of a criminal defendant by non-party public officials and celebrities."
Attorney Robert Paule also filed a motion Monday to vacate the order. He is representing Chauvin's former partner, Tou Thao, who is charged in the case.
Cahill issued the order last Thursday after two attorneys _ Earl Gray and Thomas Plunkett _ spoke to the Star Tribune about their clients charged in Floyd's murder.
"The court finds that continuing pretrial publicity in this case by the attorneys involved will increase the risk of tainting a potential jury pool and will impair all parties' right to a fair trial," Cahill wrote in his order, which covered "all parties, attorneys, their employees, agents or independent contractors working on their behalf."
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for planting his knee on the neck of Floyd, 46, for nearly eight minutes, leading to his death on May 25.
Chauvin's former colleagues J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Thao are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
Gray filed a motion last week to dismiss the case against Lane, and said the court should allow the public to view two body camera videos he filed with the motion. Plunkett said he was considering a similar motion for Kueng.
Nelson and Paule did not comment.
The court did not make the body camera videos available for viewing when Gray filed his motion; it later announced that the videos would be publicly viewable at the courthouse at a future date.
Cahill's order prohibited defense attorneys and the prosecution, which is being led by the Minnesota Attorney General's Office with assistance from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, from divulging "opinions, strategies, plans or potential evidence" to the media or general public.
Paule wrote that his client's case should not be affected by other attorneys' statements.
Nelson and Paule rebuked public officials including Attorney General Keith Ellison, Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo and others for speaking publicly about the case before the judge issued the gag order.
"For more than a month, the press, popular figures, high ranking politicians, and the attorney leading this prosecution (Ellison) _ as well as his councilman son _ have all rendered their verdicts in this case and on the most public stages possible," Nelson wrote. "And they have all deemed the Defendant guilty."
Nelson argued that the judge inappropriately issued the order without citing legal authority or convening a hearing on the matter, depriving Chauvin of his constitutional right to due process.
Cahill cited a Minnesota court rule in issuing the order. Nelson and Paule argued that the rule required a motion and court hearing.
Nelson noted that he has not spoken to the media about the case and that Chauvin should not be penalized for other attorneys' actions.
"If anything, the gag order should apply only to the State and county prosecutors, who have enjoyed a lengthy, unrestricted media honeymoon, during which to comment and posit and discuss this case at length _ likely in violation of their ethical duties," Nelson wrote.
Joseph Daly, professor emeritus at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and veteran defense attorney Joe Friedberg have said the gag order would apply to state and city officials as "agents" of the prosecution.
Gag orders are highly unusual in Minnesota, but have been used in the past.
A 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision granted judges broad discretion to issue gag orders to limit influence on potential jurors, Daly said, adding that the court has not decided when they violate constitutional rights.
