Judge Orders One Trial For All Four Cops Who Murdered George Floyd
A Minneapolis judge on Thursday has ordered that all four former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death must have one trial, and denies the defense’s motion for a change of venue.
CNN reports that Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled that the ex-cops will all be tried at the same time on March 8. The defense initially argued that it would be dangerous to have the current trial location due to the publicity.
Cahill said it was important that the officers have the same trial so that jurors understand “all of the evidence and the complete picture of Floyd’s death.”
“And it would allow this community, this State, and the nation to absorb the verdicts for the four Defendants at once,” Cahill added.
The judge did however grant the defense’s request to allow cameras in the courtroom.
“The murder of George Floyd occurred in Minneapolis and it is right that the defendants should be tried in Minneapolis,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “It is also true that they acted in concert with each other and the evidence against them is similar, so it is right to try them in one trial.”