Date set, then retracted for federal civil rights trial for three former Minneapolis officers

A court document was filed Friday saying the date was still to be determined for the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd's civil rights — shortly after a different document was filed setting the trial for Aug. 2.

The Aug. 2 timetable, signed by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Tony Leung, would have meant the officers would face trial on the federal allegations before the trial begins for the state's charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in Floyd's May 25 killing.

But another document then appeared in the docket saying the trial date was yet to be determined and that the previous document with the Aug. 2 date was filed "in error."

U.S. District Court spokesperson Rebeccah Parks confirmed Saturday that the trial date remains to be determined.

A grand jury indicted J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao last week on federal charges of "deliberate indifference to [Floyd's] serious medical needs" while acting under the "color of the law."

Kueng and Thao face an additional charge for assisting in restraining Floyd while ex-officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd by the neck, even after Floyd became unresponsive, and the two failed to intervene.

Chauvin has also been charged with civil rights violations for the killing of Floyd, but he will go to trial separately from the others. He faces an additional two-count indictment alleging he willfully deprived a 14-year-old Minneapolis boy of his civil rights during a 2017 arrest.

A Hennepin County jury found Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter charges last month. He is awaiting his June 25 sentencing in Oak Park Heights prison.

Earlier this week Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill found several aggravating factors to support a sentence exceeding state guidelines. Those factors include Chauvin's abuse of "a position of trust and authority" as a police officer, his treatment of Floyd "with particular cruelty," and the fact that children were present when Floyd was pinned to the pavement.

The federal cases run parallel to the state's. Kueng, Lane and Thao, who are not in custody, appeared at a virtual hearing in U.S. District Court on May 7 on the federal charges.

The state's trial for the three men was supposed to begin Aug. 23, but Cahill postponed it earlier this week, citing the federal indictments. Kueng, Lane and Thao will now stand trial on March 7. Cahill said the federal case should proceed first and that the state trial needed "space" from events this summer, including Chauvin's sentencing.

Andy Mannix • 612-673-4036