Police officers implicated in the death of African-American George Floyd asked Friday, September 11, in a Minneapolis court to be tried separately, out of town and by anonymous jurors, citing the enormous pressure associated with the drama that sparked historic protests in the United States.
Read also: Three months after the death of George Floyd, America in shock from another police blunder
Outside the court, this emotion was again manifested with great noise: under a banner "
Black Lives Matter
", hundreds of people demanded, with the megaphone, justice for the black forty-something, who died on May 25 in this great northern city.
“
Indict, convict, send these killer cops to prison,
” they chanted.
Many participants wore masks crossed out with the numbers "
8'46
", in reference to the eight minutes and 46 seconds during which the white policeman Derek Chauvin remained kneeling on the neck of George Floyd.
His ordeal, filmed and uploaded by a passerby, aroused emotion far beyond American borders and led millions of people to take to the streets of the country to demand police reforms and an end to racial inequalities.
Dressed in a dark suit and with a masked face, Derek Chauvin, 44, appeared in person for the first time on Friday before a judge.
Charged with murder, he is being held in a Minnesota state jail and had so far presented to justice only by video link.
Beside him were three of his former colleagues, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao present at the time of the tragedy.
Indicted for aiding and abetting murder, they were released on bail pending trial.
Threat
During the hearing, their lawyers pleaded in concert to disorient the trial and protect the anonymity of the jurors for fear for their safety.
Eric Nelson has assured to have received more than 1,000 emails or malicious calls since he agreed to represent Derek Chauvin.
Others have said they have been targeted by "
threats or obscene messages
" since
becoming
involved in this case.
In documents sent to justice before the hearing, however, lines of fracture appeared between the four men, who seem tempted to reject the responsibilities of the tragedy and therefore ask to be tried separately.
Derek Chauvin's defense demands that the charges against him be dropped, arguing that George Floyd "
probably died of a Fentanyl overdose
", and ensures that the first two agents arrived on the scene did not tell him "
signs of overdose that they observed
”.
The prosecution, led by the Department of the Attorney General of Minnesota, pleads for a single trial, so as not to increase the trauma of relatives and the cost to the taxpayer.
Judge Peter Cahill suggested that more hearings would be needed to choose the ideal format to try this extraordinary case.
Beyond the question of the guilt of the four agents, the trial, which is due to open on March 8, will also be that of the methods of arrest of the American police, at the heart of many blunders.
