Minneapolis judge says he won't move or delay Derek Chauvin's murder trial because pretrial publicity is inevitable

• Fired Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin's lawyer asked a judge to move or postpone the murder trial.
• The attorney claimed a settlement between Minneapolis and George Floyd's family could bias the jury.
• Judge Peter Cahill said no place in the state hasn't been exposed to pretrial publicity.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill denied a motion to move or delay the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin because of a $27 million settlement the city reached with George Floyd's family last week.

Cahill said on Friday that the timing of the announcement clearly had an effect on the impartiality of some potential jurors - and resulted in the dismissal of two that had already been selected - but no help will come from a change of venue or continuance.

"Unfortunately, I think the pretrial publicity in this case will continue no matter how long we continue it," Cahill said.

As far as change of venue, that won't help either, he said.

"I don't think there is any place in the state of Minnesota that hasn't been subjected to extreme amounts of pretrial publicity," he said.

The Minneapolis City Council announced on March 12 that it had voted unanimously to approve the settlement in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Floyd's family.

The announcement came in the middle of jury selection in the case.

Chauvin, who was captured on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, is facing charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Chauvin's Attorney Eric Nelson called the timing "profoundly disturbing" and argued that the language used was "highly prejudicial."

"The goal of this system is to provide a fair trial, and this is not fair," Nelson said.

"We got a mayor who's a lawyer," Nelson added. "He should know better."

The judge at that time called the called the publicity of the settlement "unfortunate."

"I wish city officials would stop talking about this case so much," Cahill said, noting that he didn't believe there was "evil intent" in the announcement.

While he mulled over whether to allow a change of venue or delay the case, Cahill called back seven jurors who had already been selected at that time and questioned them about their knowledge of and thoughts on the settlement. He found that two of them needed to be excused because it had changed their ability to be impartial in the case.

Cahill also gave the defense, and to a lesser extent the prosecution, additional opportunities to strike potential jurors they believed may bring their biases to the deliberation room.

As of Friday morning, 12 of 14 jurors had been seated.

Since the beginning of voir dire, 57 potential jurors had been questioned. Of them, the judge excused 22 for cause, the defense dismissed 12, and the state dismissed six.