MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by a coalition of media groups for greater access to the civil rights trial of three former Minneapolis police officers in the death of George Floyd.
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson said the trial would continue with restrictions he imposed due to the pandemic, including limits on the number of reporters allowed inside the courtroom. Media outlets including The Associated Press on Monday urged the judge to ease the restrictions, saying they amounted to an unconstitutional courtroom closure.
“The current spread of the omicron variant has created an unprecedented situation for our justice system,” Magnuson said in a letter to Leita Walker, counsel for the media coalition. “We need to keep the jurors we invite to the courthouse as safe as possible, and science dictates that limiting the number of people in the courtroom is the best way to do that.”
Jury selection is due to begin Thursday in the trial of Tou Thao, J. Kueng and Thomas Lane accused of disenfranchising Floyd while acting under government authority. Only four journalists will be allowed in the courtroom at a time. Other journalists and the general public will be limited to around 40 seats each in two overflow courtrooms where they will watch a closed-circuit feed on monitors that will only provide limited views.
Under longstanding federal court rules, the proceedings will not be live streamed or broadcast to the public, unlike last year’s murder trial in state court of Derek Chauvin, the former white officer of Minneapolis who kept Floyd pinned to the sidewalk with his knee on his neck. despite the black man’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe. The judge in that case made an exception to the state’s normal limits on cameras, citing the need for public access during the pandemic.
Magnuson also rejected the media coalition’s request for same-day access to trial exhibits. He said he would decide whether to release those exhibits at the end of the case and consider factors such as the defendants’ right to a fair trial in state court for aiding and abetting both the murder and manslaughter, which should begin. June 13.
“I appreciate your concerns but do not share them,” Magnuson wrote. “I believe the media and the public will have as much access to these procedures as possible during this time of high Covid transmission.”
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