Media groups protest limits on access to trial for ex-officers in George Floyd death

A coalition of media groups says restrictions on access to the federal civil rights trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death amount to an unconstitutional closing of the courtroom.

Citing the risks of the pandemic, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has restricted the number of people who may be in his courtroom for the proceedings against Tou Thao, J. Kueng and Thomas Lane on charges that they deprived Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority. Jury selection begins Thursday. Magnuson has also restricted how much can be seen on a closed-circuit feed of the proceedings, which will be relayed to overflow rooms where only a limited number of journalists and members of the public can watch.

In keeping with longstanding federal court rules, the proceedings will not be livestreamed or broadcast to the public, in contrast to last year’s murder trial in state court of Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis officer who kept Floyd pinned to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck despite Floyd’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 amid the pandemic.

“We do not need to explain to this Court the gravity of the trial, the impact Mr. Floyd’s death had on the Twin Cities and the world, or the public’s ongoing and intense concern for how the criminal justice system deals with those accused of killing him,” the news organizations, including The Associated Press, said in their letter dated Monday. “As a result, ensuring the trial … is open to the press and public is imperative.”

Two media members are to be allowed in the courtroom during jury selection. The media coalition pointed out that no members of the public will be allowed for that phase, not even members of the defendants’ families or the Floyd family.