The jury in the federal civil rights trial of three Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's murder is mostly white, according to The Associated Press. Among the 17 white jurors is one person of Asian decent and one Asian alternative juror. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson said that the case has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. He dismissed a Black immigrant potential juror who wasn't sure he could be impartial. Legal experts like emeritus law Prof. Joe Daly of Mitchell Hamline Law School argue that while the cops are not being formally charged with targeting Floyd on his basis of race, the case has everything to do with race and "how police have acted toward African Americans, minority people."
Jurors were selected from areas around the entire state of Minnesota, which trends towards being much more conservative than the Minneapolis area. Prosecutors must prove that the cops knowingly deprived Floyd of his constitutional rights. Video evidence shows officer J. Kueng kneeling on Floyd's back and officer Tou Thao preventing bystanders from intervening. While such civil rights violations can result in life in prison or the death penalty, sentencing guidelines suggest that the officers would receive a much less severe sentence. Testimony begins Monday.
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