This is the last of three columns outlining some major issues in the Justice Department’s civil-rights prosecution of three former Minneapolis police officers who, along with already-convicted former officer Derek Chauvin, are implicated in the killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020. The trial began in earnest last week in a St. Paul federal court.
As one would expect, opening statements and the start of the prosecution’s presentation highlighted the crux of the case: the gruesome video depicting the four cops detaining Floyd on a city street in a prone position, as he struggled to breathe and gradually expired. Nevertheless, it is crucial to grasp that this is not a murder case; that is the state prosecution.
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