Ex-Minneapolis officers involved in George Floyd death 'may seek venue change'

The four former Minneapolis police officers who have been charged over the death of unarmed black man George Floyd are likely to ask for their trial to be moved, prompting concerns of systemic racism in the US justice system.

Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng could be successful in a request, as they could argue that the fact that the Minneapolis chief of police and other officials called Mr Floyd's death a murder may prejudice local jurors, according to legal experts.

Video footage from the scene in late May shows Chauvin kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and the other three former officers have been charged with aiding him.

Mr Floyd's death triggered anti-racist protests in cities throughout the US and around the world, prompting fears that a local jury might feel intimidated.

Hennepin County district court judge Peter Cahill said on Monday he could consider moving the case in September ahead of the March trial. Any new venue would still have to be in Minnesota, because the former officers were all charged under state law.

Justin Hansford, director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center and professor at Howard University School of Law, questioned the possible move.

He told Reuters: "If you go to a less diverse place, what that would mean for the diversity of the jury pool and the question of bias?"

There have been previous cases where jurors in high-profile trials appear to have been more lenient with defendants of the same ethnicity as them.

Black former American football player OJ Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of a double murder after his trial was moved from Santa Monica, a predominantly white area of Los Angeles, to the city's downtown. His jury comprised nine black people, two white people and one Hispanic person.

Four white New York police officers who were charged with the death of black man Amadou Diallo in 1999 were found not guilty after their trial was moved from the diverse Bronx neighbourhood to majority-white Albany.

Lawyer Brian McMonagle, who represented comedian Bill Cosby in his first sexual assault trial, said: "The [OJ] Simpson case teaches us that venue can be the difference between an acquittal and a conviction."

Read more

George Floyd's brother: 'Take the opportunity to change the world'

Officer probed for 'sharing altered image of George Floyd arrest'

Moment cop charged over George Floyd death is accosted in supermarket

Prison 'only allowed white officers' to guard Derek Chauvin

Second former officer released on bail after George Floyd death