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3 ex-officers ask to block streaming of trial in Floyd death
https://www.twincities.com/2021/09/02/3-ex-officers-ask-to-block-streaming-of-trial-in-floyd-death/
Attorneys for three former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death asked a judge Thursday to bar their upcoming trial from being livestreamed, saying some witnesses won’t testify if the proceedings are broadcast.
The request from attorneys for Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao is an about-face from their earlier request to have the trial publicly broadcast, and it is opposed by prosecutors and news outlets including The Associated Press.
Lane, Kueng and Thao are scheduled to stand trial next March on charges of aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s May 2020 death. Their co-defendant, Derek Chauvin, was convicted in April of murder and manslaughter after weeks of proceedings that marked the first time in Minnesota that a criminal trial was livestreamed in its entirety.
Before Chauvin’s trial, attorneys for all four men requested the trials be broadcast, but Lane and Kueng recently backtracked, with their attorneys saying that the “worldwide publicity” from televised coverage of Chauvin’s trail “crushed” their clients’ right to a fair trial. Attorneys Earl Gray and Tom Plunkett say the public access led some witnesses to decline testifying for the defense, noting one witness in the Chauvin trial has been harassed and another faced professional scrutiny.