Prosecutors Appeal Ruling That Split Trials in Floyd’s Death

(from left, Derek Chauvin, Tuo Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors in Minnesota have appealed a judge’s ruling that split the trials of four Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death and kept the first trial scheduled to start in March.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled earlier in January that Derek Chauvin, the officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck last May even as he said he couldn’t breathe, would go on trial March 8.

Cahill also ruled that the other three officers on the scene would be tried later.

He said at the time that trying all four officers at the same time would make social distancing difficult during the coronavirus pandemic. Prosecutors appealed to the state Court of Appeals Thursday.