Minneapolis — The judge in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial slammed Minneapolis city officials for continuing to discuss the $27 million payout to George Floyd’s family—which hasn’t been finalized, but was nonetheless announced during jury selection for some reason.
Judge Peter Cahill demanded the city, the prosecution, and the defense ‘stop talking about it’ after it was brought to his attention that city council members had held yet another press conference discussing the settlement earlier that day. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and City Attorney Jim Rowader defended the timing of the city’s announcement on the settlement in a press briefing and stated that, ‘there is no good timing to settle any case,’ as the reported by the Daily Mail.
Rowader admitted the settlement has not even been ‘finalized’ and must still go through federal court approval. Officials also admitted that it could be a month before the settlement is finished.
When asked why there was an initial announcement during the initial stages of jury selection, Rowander refused to answer.
Mayor Frey said he ‘disagreed with the underlying premise’ that the announcement of the settlement had a negative impact on the murder trial—even though it was announced on the same day that prospective jurors were dismissed because they addmitted their opinions had been impacted by the announcement.
Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson, told the court that the city had given ‘yet another press conference’ about the payout. Nelson questioned how the ‘timing was of the essence’ for the announcement even though the settlement will not be finalized for another month.
The prosecution later argued that the defense had taken the announcement out of context, sparking a fiery outburst from Judge Cahill who demanded everyone ‘stop talking about it.’
“I’ve asked Minneapolis to stop talking about it… they keep talking about it, we keep talking about it… Everyone just needs to stop talking about it. Let me decide what the ramifications are,” Judge Cahill said.
