The trial of three former Minneapolis Police Officers involved in the murder of George Floyd began on Monday as Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng are being charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority.

Defense attorney Tom Plunkett argued convicted police officer Derek Chauvin “called all the shots” and that the police department did little to train the plaintiffs on how to intervene if a colleague got out of control.

"This case is about a tragic tale, about a rookie officer, less than three shifts into his career as a Minneapolis police officer, that was confronted with a complex rapidly unfolding set of circumstances," Plunkett told the court.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was arrested after trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes while Floyd gasped for breath and pleaded for his life. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held his legs down while Thao stood by them to keep bystanders from intervening with the videotaped killing.

Kueng, who is black, and Thao, who is Asian, are both being charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter and failing to give proper medical care to Floyd after Kueng was twice unable to find a pulse and never once told Chauvin to get off of Floyd. Chauvin was later convicted on all charges and sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison.

“For second after second, minute after minute, these three CPR-trained defendants stood or knelt next to officer Chauvin as he slowly killed George Floyd right in front of them,” prosecutor Samantha Trepel told jurors during opening statements. “They chose not to protect George Floyd, the man they had handcuffed and placed in their custody.”

Federal prosecutions of on-duty police officers are rare and prosecutors must prove the officers knew what they were doing was wrong but chose to break the law anyway.

There are 18 total jurors in the case, including six alternates. The jurors consist of 10 women,and eight men, with 16 of the jurors being white and two of Asian descent. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson told jurors the trial is expected to last about a month.

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