Ex-Minneapolis cop charged in George Floyd's murder seeks further trial delay
Former Minneapolis PD officers Tou Thao (left) and J. Alexander Keung (right) face charges of aiding and abetting murder for George Floyd's murder.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The State of Minnesota is demanding a speedy trial for two former Minneapolis police officers charged in connection with George Floyd's murder, while one officer is asking for the trial to be delayed further.
The state trial of Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, who are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter in Floyd's May 2020 death, was recently pushed back to Jan. 9, 2023. Their trial was supposed to start on June 13 after being postponed from March of this year.
The State of Minnesota, on behalf of Floyd's family, filed a motion on June 17 demanding a "speedy trial," citing the Victim Rights Act. And in response to this, Kueng's attorney filed a motion for a continuance, seeking to push the start of his trial back to after April 3, 2023, citing Kueng being unavailable from January-March 2023 "due a scheduling conflict of a personal nature."
The pair has a motion hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill.
Thao and Kueng this spring filed motions to delay the start of their state trial and get it moved out of Minneapolis. The motion to move the trial was denied in early June, but the court granted their request for a continuance, listing pre-trial publicity from Thomas Lane's plea deal in May and the federal civil rights trial in February.
Thao, Kueng and Lane were found guilty in February in federal court of violating Floyd's civil rights. They haven't yet been sentenced in federal court. And Lane pleaded guilty in state court to aiding and abetting manslaughter in Floyd's murder in early May. Lane's sentencing in state court has been scheduled for Sept. 21. A sentencing date for the federal case has not been set.
Derek Chauvin, their former colleague, was convicted of murder last year in Floyd's May 25, 2020, death and pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights violation. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison in the state case but hasn't yet been sentenced in the federal case.