Trial of three former Minneapolis officers on scene of George Floyd murder will not be live streamed

A Minnesota judge has ruled that the trial of the three fired police officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd will not be live streamed due to a Minnesota law that allows any of the parties in the trial to decline live coverage of the proceedings.

The judge cited the improvement of the COVID-19 pandemic, which previously necessitated the need to livestream the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer found guilty of murdering Floyd in 2020.

The three officers who will face trial on charges of aiding and abetting the murder, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, all objected to the live streaming of their trial, and the judge wrote in a filing this week that the current COVID conditions do not warrant an override of the law as it did during the Chauvin trial.

Judge Cahill wrote in the filing, “unusual and compelling circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic” had precipitated the need to live-stream the Chauvin trial because social distancing and limits on how many individuals could be in the hearing room at once made it necessary. Now that guidelines are not as strict, the judge must abide by the law. 

Cahill’s filing also says he “inspired public confidence in the proceedings and helped ensure calm in Minneapolis and across the country” and said he had recommended to the committee that judges should have the ability to override objections to live streaming if the circumstances of the trial demand it.

“It is deeply disappointing that thousands of people interested in this important trial won’t be able to watch it,” said Leita Walker, an attorney for the media coalition that argued for the public streaming of the trial. “Our Supreme Court needs to change the rule. They are working on it. I wish they could have worked faster.”