Derek Chauvin Trial, Day 8: 2 Previously Seated Jurors Excused, 2 More Chosen
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Two jurors already seated in the Derek Chauvin trial are now off the case.
The previously seated jurors were re-questioned following news of the multi-million dollar settlement between the city of Minneapolis and George Floyd's family.
While two jurors were eliminated, two were chosen Wednesday afternoon.
One juror chosen is a married mixed-race woman in her 40s who works as a management consultant and has a small child.
The second is a Black man in his 40s who works in management and moved to Minnesota 19 years ago.
He said he had had a somewhat neutral view of Chauvin and a somewhat positive view of George Floyd.
He also had a positive view of police.
"When somebody broke into my house, I called the police and they came. If they were defunded, how can they come and help me?" he said.
The two jurors who were dismissed said they had inadvertently heard the news of the settlement. One juror, a white man in his 30s, said he was shocked by the amount of the settlement.
"I would say especially that dollar amount was kind of shocking to me. That kind of sent a message that the city of Minneapolis felt that something was wrong and they wanted to make it right to the tune of that dollar amount," he said.
The other juror who said he could no longer be impartial is an Hispanic man in his 20s who had initially said he had negative views of Chauvin that he said he could set aside.
"I was asked about my strong opinions against Chauvin. Clearly the city of Minneapolis has some strong opinions as well and this just kind of confirms my opinions that I already had," he said.
After hearing the settlement news he said he could no longer set aside his views of Chauvin.
"I think it would be hard to be impartial," he said.
A third juror, a white woman in her 50s, said she also had heard details of the settlement. Judge Peter Cahill asked her if it would affect her ability to be impartial.
"I have been thinking about this question a lot," she said. "I don't think so. It wasn't surprising that the city made this settlement."
But she said she could still be impartial and the judge kept her on the panel.
Chauvin took notes throughout the day. A number of jurors were dismissed after expressing strong views.
The judge said he will consider the answers he got from these jurors who had heard about the case as he weighs the larger defense motion to move the trial out of Minneapolis or even to delay the trial because of the pretrial publicity.
There are still seven scheduled days left to select the jury, with the trial still scheduled to start March 29.