Kendall Talks Potential of Floyd Trial Moving to Stearns Co.

ST. CLOUD -- Late last week the attorney for one of the former Minneapolis officers, J. Alexander Keung, charged with killing George Floyd asked for a change of venue for the trial and specifically mentioned Stearns County as an option. Additionally, the Hennepin County prosecutors have filed a motion to combine all four defendants into one trial.

Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall says the Hennepin County Judge is currently considering both motions.

The factors for that are that it be convenient for the parties to get to that location.  It has to be convenient for the witnesses, and usually, a very heavily weighed factor is will it be convenient for the victim's family.

Kendall says Stearns County has no input in the judge's decision.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for September 11th and Kendall believes the judge will make a decision on the venue relatively quickly.

Just because he knows the amount of planning and preparation and security and figuring out how to do the jury questionnaires, there are a lot of moving parts.

The trial must be held in Minnesota and it has to be in a place where the jury pool would be similar to what they'd get in Hennepin County.  If the trial is moved to another county all costs associated with the trial will be paid by Hennepin County.

Right now the trial, or trials, are set to begin in early March. Kendall says there could be one joint trial that stays in Hennepin County or moved outside of the metro area.  Or, there could be four separate trials, which could potentially be in four separate locations.

Derek Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. Kueng and two other officers, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four were fired.