Photo: Hennepin County Sheriff's Office
A Minnesota judge ordered that livestreaming will not be allowed during the trial of three former cops involved with the death of George Floyd, WCCO reports.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill filed an order Monday evening (April 25) prohibiting livestreaming of any kind during the trial. The COVID-19 pandemic made live streaming of previous trials almost necessary, but Cahill claims that the COVID-19 pandemic has receded enough to where he had to abide by the ex-police officers' objections to live coverage.
Former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao are facing charges for aiding Floyd's death as their fellow cop, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck. The upcoming trial is set for June 13 after all three rejected a plea deal. The trio was previously convicted in federal court for violating Floyd's civil rights back in February.
As Chauven pinned the distressed Black man down, Lane held Floyd's legs, Kueng knelt on his back and Theo kept bystanders away. Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for murdering Floyd last year.
Live coverage was allowed during Chauvin's trial, however. Cahill also wrote at the time that "unusual and compelling circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic" have abated, but he was bound by state court rules to allow cameras during most of the trial if all parties consent.
Several news media advocates and workers have pushed back against this decision, including Leita Walker, an attorney for a media coalition.
"It is deeply disappointing that thousands of people interested in this important trial won’t be able to watch it," Walker noted in an email that an advisory committee to the Minnesota Supreme Court. "Our Supreme Court needs to change the rule. They are working on it. I wish they could have worked faster."
News reporters will have to cover the proceedings against the three ex-cops from a closed-circuit feed in one of at least three overflow courtrooms alongside the general public.