MINNEAPOLIS _ The judge overseeing the cases against four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd issued a gag order Thursday prohibiting attorneys and others working on the matter from publicly talking about "opinions, strategies, plans or potential evidence," among other issues.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill issued the unusual order a day after two of the attorneys, Earl Gray and Thomas Plunkett, spoke to the Minneapolis Star Tribune about a motion Gray had filed to dismiss the charges against his client, Thomas Lane.
"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 referring to the Star Tribune interview.
At the former officers' second court hearing in late June the judge admonished attorneys, public officials and others for talking about the case, warning that publicity could taint potential jurors and force the trial or trials to move out of Hennepin County.
Gray had said Wednesday that he wanted the court to make two body-camera videos he filed with the motion available for public viewing. The footage was recorded during Floyd's May 25 arrest by Lane and his former colleague, J. Alexander Kueng.
The court did not list the camera footage among the submitted exhibits on a public website tracking the cases, nor did the judge make them available for public viewing.
Gray's motion to dismiss was filed Tuesday before noon and made public Wednesday morning. He also included transcripts of the body camera footage and a transcript of Lane's interview with an investigator, among other items.
On Thursday a court spokesman said the videos will be made available for public viewing at a later date, but not this week.
Plunkett, who is representing Kueng, did not comment on Gray's motion or the camera footage, but said Wednesday he was considering filing a motion to dismiss the case against his client.
Cahill's order pertains to "all parties, attorneys, their employees, agents, or independent contractors working on their behalf."
He prohibited them from disclosing materials related to the case personally or through third parties. The order covers information about "opinions, strategies, plans or potential evidence" that relate to the cases.
"Access to public records is not restricted by this order," Cahill wrote. " ... Non-documentary exhibits that are filed and classified as public will be made available for review at the Hennepin County Government Center ... "
Lane, Kueng and former officer Tou Thao are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
Their former colleague, Derek Chauvin, is charged with one count each of second-degree murder, third-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter for killing Floyd, who died after he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground for nearly eight minutes. Chauvin knelt on his neck despite Floyd's pleas that he couldn't breathe and statements that police were killing him.
Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, declined to comment Wednesday. Thao's attorney, Robert Paule, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
