Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng Monday pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the death of George Floyd, avoiding trial in Hennepin County Court.
Tou Thao, who faced similar charges, has not changed his not guilty plea.
Kueng's plea change came as jury selection for the former officers' trials was set to begin.
Both men have already started serving federal sentences after they were convicted for violating Floyd's civil rights. They began serving those sentences in early October.
"I thought this case was going to resolve simply because both of these men were going to federal prison," said Twin Cities defense attorney Jack Rice, who is not associated with either Kueng or Thao. "The idea that they had concurrent sentence, rejected this, and decided they want to go to trial is shocking to me."
Kueng, who along with Chauvin and former officer Thomas Lane held Floyd down, and Thao, who held back bystanders, rejected plea deals in August, with Thao telling Judge Peter Cahill, "It would be lying for me to accept any plea offer.”
Lane pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting manslaughter and got three years.
Prosecutors are tasked with proving Thou intentionally helped former office Derek Chauvin murder Floyd. Chuavin was found guilty on state charges of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
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Rice expects a lot of the same testimony from the Chauvin trial will appear in this trial.
"That's exactly what we could expect and in fact, it might be sharper and tighter than what we saw in the Derek Chauvin case itself simply because they've already done thins," he said. "They know how to do it even better than they did before."
Now, along with their federal sentences, Thao faces a significantly longer sentence, including 12 1/2 years on the murder charge, if convicted.
"In other words, they could spend their federal time and then come back and face even more state time if they're found guilty. Think about all the evidence that's been rung up because prosecutors are tying them directly to what Chauvin did, not just what they did independently."
In total, 16 jurors will be selected and hundreds of prospective jurors were sent a 17-page questionnaire ahead of Monday's jury selection.
"There's also Assistant Attorney General Matt Frank who really was the lead prosecutor in this case and Frank's going to be involved," Rice said. "It's not just watching somebody do it, you're the guy who did it. Now imagine being the guy who can come back, now that he's sharpened his knives, and he can even do it better. That is a scary prospect because he is a very good and very effective prosecutor."