George Floyd's trial prosecutors ask court to move case to June
- Prosecutors handling the George Floyd's murder trial want more time to enable COVID-19 vaccine rolled out before trial
- The defense legal team representing the four officers is also asking for more time to prepare for the trial
- The case is believed to be a high profile one that could attract fresh protests that could spread the novel when trial is in session
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George Floyd, the black man whose death resulted to worldwide Black Lives Matter protests could see a delay in his murder case trial.
Source: UGC
The four officers who were involved in the killing of George Floyd are likely to wait for a few more months as the case prosecutors believe that the case will be better for public health.
In a report outlined by TMZ, the murder case prosecutors are reported to have filed legal documents seeking to continue the trial from June 7 and this is because of the recent go ahead of two COVID-19 vaccines approved in the US.
‘’Moving the start of this trial to June 2021 would reduce the public health risks associated with conducting the trial during the COVID-19 pandemic.’’ Read a statement from the State of Minnesota.
This move, according to the prosecutors, will also help in preventing further trial disruptions like court staff, lawyers, witnesses and jurors getting COVID-19 when everything is in session.
While the prosecutors say that they are set to try the case on March 8 as initially scheduled, they still believe that the three months delay will give this high profile case will be of interest to public health, judging from what happened in 2020 with the protests in an ongoing pandemic.
At the moment, one of the officers Derek Chauvin is facing a second degree murder charge and manslaughter while J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are each facing a charge on helping and abetting murder and manslaughter.
The defense lawyers representing the four police officers are also reported to have asked for more time to prepare for the case after the prosecutors produced damning evidence after the deadline announced by the court.
The main worry now is the potential unrest that may start on the streets as soon as this trial begins with the prosecutors hoping that the COVID-19 vaccine could help minimize the risk of spreading the novel while the case is in session.
Briefly.co.za reported on how this black man was killed in the United States after a police officer was caught on camera kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
His death resulted to demonstrations with people carrying placards written 'I can't breathe' which happen to be the last words Floyd said.
The protesters marched towards police station where they smashed windows, damaged a patrol car and graffiti sprayed on the building.
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Source: Briefly News
Samantha Riddle Samantha Riddle is a former Mainstream/ Current Affairs Manager. She covered the breaking stories and SA news from 2018-2021. Currently, she’s working for The South African.
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
