Half of the jury that will hear testimony in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was selected by the end of Friday after rounds of questioning that focused on the case's publicity and opinions on racial bias and police reform.
A seventh and lone juror was seated Friday, joining a jury that consists of one multiracial woman in her 20s, one Black man in his 30s who immigrated to the United States, one Hispanic man in his 20s, one white woman in her 50s, a white man in his 20s and two white men in their 30s. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25 death of George Floyd. Opening statements and testimony are scheduled to begin March 29 and last two to four weeks.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill allotted three weeks to pick 14 jurors, two of them alternates, given the amount of publicity the case has received, but many prospective jurors interviewed over the week said they saw news of the case in passing and could set aside prior knowledge and opinions if they were chosen.
The only juror seated Friday is a white woman in her 50s who works as an executive at a nonprofit that does advocacy work in health care. She has two teenage sons.
She took the unusual move of summoning her own attorney to the courthouse.
At one point, the judge halted a live video feed of the proceeding and cleared the courtroom of everyone except the trial participants because of unspecified privacy concerns.
When the live feed returned, the woman told Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, that she had prior professional dealings with Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting Chauvin, but didn't know him personally.
She later told prosecuting attorney Steve Schleicher that "all of our interactions [with Ellison] were positive at the time" and they would have no impact on her ability to be a fair juror.
