Judge allows third-degree murder charge in George Floyd death trial
11 March 2021, 14:44
Defendant Derek Chauvin already faces second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
A judge granted prosecutors’ request to add a third-degree murder charge against the former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death.
Peter Cahill, a Hennepin County judge in Minnesota, added the charge after the former officer, Derek Chauvin, failed to get appellate courts to block it.
Mr Cahill had earlier rejected the charge as not warranted by the circumstances of Mr Floyd’s death, but an appellate court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds for it.
Chauvin already faced second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
Legal experts say the additional charge helps prosecutors by giving jurors one more option to convict Chauvin.
Potential jurors in Chauvin’s trial return to continue the selection process that started this week.
Mr Floyd was declared dead on May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against the black man’s neck for about nine minutes.
Mr Floyd’s death sparked sometimes violent protests in Minneapolis and beyond, leading to a nationwide reckoning on race.
