MINAPOLIS (AP) – Prosecutors revealed Monday night that they had offered a deal to three former Minneapolis police officers accused of aiding and abetting the assassination of George Floyd, but said at a hearing that the defendants had rejected them.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill held the hearing primarily to consider whether he has the power to allow live video coverage of the upcoming trial, which begins in June for former officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng.  Accused of aiding and abetting both homicide and murder when former officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to nail Floyd, a black man, to the sidewalk for 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020. Kueng knelt on his back. of Floyd, Lane held his feet and Tao held the passers-by back.
Attorney General Matthew Frank did not disclose details of the open court bids, but said they were identical and were made March 22 after a jury convicted the three in a separate trial in February of federal civil rights charges stemming from Floin’s death. according to the team.  reports from the courtroom.
Lane’s lawyer, Earl Gray, said it was difficult for the defense to negotiate when the three did not yet know what their federal fines would be.  The judge in this case has not set a sentence date and the three remain free on bail.
Cahill told Frank to submit bids for the album after the jury sat for the upcoming trial, which is expected to take about eight weeks, including three for the jury to select.
Cahill took the rare step of allowing live audiovisual coverage of Chauvin’s murder trial last year, making an exception to the usual rules of Minnesota courts.  He cited the mitigating circumstance of the need to balance the protection of participants by COVID-19 against the constitutional requirement of a public trial.
Now that the US has entered a new phase of life with the coronavirus, Cahill must decide whether to allow the same access for the Thao, Lane and Kueng test.  He did not comment during the hearing and said he would not do so until the Minnesota Judicial Council – a panel of top judges and court administrators – met Thursday to discuss the issue.
Attorney Leita Walker, who represents a coalition of media organizations, including the Associated Press, urged Cahill to allow video coverage again, saying it was the most sensible way to ensure public and media access to the trial.  He said the public should watch Chauvin’s trial and that interest remains high because both concern Floyd’s death.  The killing, which was recorded on video, sparked protests around the world and a national tribal account.
“The public just is not going to understand why they had to watch this one hammer and they will not be able to watch it,” Walker said.
But Cahill disputed Walker’s claims that he had the power to make another exception and that the pandemic was still a mitigating circumstance.
“COVID-19 is less of a pandemic and more of an endemic issue now,” Cahill said.
Cahill noted that while he has publicly stated that he now believes that the legal presumption should be to allow television trials, he pointed out that this is not yet the rule.  “I am still sworn to obey the law,” he said.
Defense attorneys said they were still opposed to the audiovisual coverage of the upcoming trial and reiterated concerns about witnesses’ willingness to testify.
Minnesota court rules generally require the consent of all parties to audiovisual coverage of the trials, with fewer restrictions on sentences.  Chauvin’s trial was the first in Minnesota to be televised entirely, from the selection of jurors to his conviction for murder to 22 years in prison.  People all over the world tuned in to the live streams.
“I think the live broadcast of this test enabled people here and around the world to see the internal functions of a system that handled one of the most important tests of our time,” said Suki Dardarian, Senior Director and Vice President of Star Minneapolis Tribune.  , who is part of the media coalition, said before the hearing.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office was initially opposed to having cameras in court for the Sauvin trial, but now supports them for the upcoming trial of other officers.
“The Chauvin trial has shown the benefits of strong public access to this important case and has shown that the Court could successfully address concerns that raise the state’s initial opposition to audio and video coverage,” prosecutors wrote last week. .  “The commendable transparency of the Court has inspired public confidence in the process and helped ensure calm in Minneapolis and throughout the country.”
Due to federal court rules, live video coverage was not allowed for Thao, Lane and Kueng’s first trial this year, when all three were convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights.  Nor was it allowed for Chauvin’s federal case in which he pleaded guilty to civil rights violations.  However, he was allowed to stand trial in December by former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter over the death of Dode Wright, who was killed a year ago on Monday.
An advisory panel to the Minnesota Supreme Court is considering whether to allow more video coverage of criminal proceedings.  She is expected to publish her report by July 1st.
Cahill, in a letter to the commission, said he had previously objected to cameras in criminal cases, but that his experience in the Sauvin case had changed his mind and now he believed they should be allowed, at the judge’s discretion. .
Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu, who presided over Potter’s trial, told the Star Tribune in an interview that both Potter and Sauvin’s trials convinced her that the cameras could be present without disturbing her.
“I forgot he was still there,” Chu told the newspaper.