MINNEAPOLIS – Potential jurors in the Derek Chauvin murder trial were assembled for a fourth day this week to find out whether they will join six others already chosen to weigh charges in connection with the death of George Floyd.
Jury selection resumed Friday morning in the Hennepin County District Court, where the fired Minneapolis police officer is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and the newly reinstated third-degree murder count. Questioning began with the first potential juror, a woman, who was familiar with the case and believed she could be impartial.
On Thursday, several prospective jurors revealed feeling emotional distressed while viewing video of Chauvin, a white officer, pinning the Black man to the pavement for more than nine minutes at a south Minneapolis street corner as he pleaded to breathe.
Floyd begged for his life while under Chauvin's knee and died that night on May 25, setting off sometimes violent and destructive civil unrest for days along much of Lake Street and elsewhere in Minneapolis and parts of neighboring St. Paul.
Seven potential jurors were questioned Thursday, with one chosen to serve.
Heading into Friday, the jury is comprised of one multiracial woman, one Black man, one Hispanic man and three white men. A jury of 14, two of them alternates, will be seated before opening statements and testimony begin March 29 before District Judge Peter Cahill.
The first jury candidate to be questioned, a recent college graduate, carefully chose her words as she gave unwavering answers to probing questions.
She was asked about her ability to consider only the evidence presented at trial and not just the bystander video that she said was so inhumane that should had to stop watching it, and she replied that she could.
"What I saw as a human, that did not give me a good impression," said the woman, who disclosed that she participated in a social justice protest in Duluth in the time since Floyd died. "I just couldn't watch it anymore."
Defense attorney Eric Nelson followed with questions about her willingness to accept information about policies that guide police procedure and whether she was willing to listen to both sides. She assured Nelson that she would on both counts if seated. After a brief huddle with his legal team, Nelson used a strike and had the woman dismissed.
Court broke for lunch during questioning of a single mother who works in the nonprofit sector focused on healthcare. She told Nelson that she would be able to judge the case only on the evidence presented in court, but she believed that racial disparities exist in society. Questioning will resume after lunch.
On Thursday, Cahill added a third-degree murder charge against Chauvin following a series of appellate decisions that forced him to walk back two of his previous rulings on the matter.
The move endorsed the contention that Chauvin's actions met the definition of a third-degree murder count was seen by some legal analysts as strategic to winning a conviction but not without potential drawbacks.
The revived count provides jurors more opportunities to convict Chauvin and could be viewed as a compromise between the other charges he faces — the more serious second-degree murder and manslaughter. But it presents its own uncertainties.
Former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are set to go on trial together Aug. 23 on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death.
