Trial for 2 former officers charged in George Floyd's murder pushed back to January
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 trial for two former Minneapolis police officers who are charged in connection to George Floyd's murder has been pushed back again.
Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng's trial will now begin on Jan. 5, 2023, with jury selection slated to begin on Jan. 9, 2023, according to court documents. Their trial was supposed to start on June 13 after being postponed from March of this year.
Thao and Kueng had filed motions to delay the start of the trial and get it moved out of Minneapolis. The motion to move the trial was denied, 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, 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.