Two jurors who were seated last week are dismissed from jury service in the Derek Chauvin murder trial after their exposure to the news of the 27-million dollar settlement between the city of Minneapolis and the family of George Floyd.
Now seven are seated out of the 14 needed, instead of nine. Juror 36, a Hispanic man in his 20s and juror 20, a white man in his 30s were excused for cause.
Jurors were asked over Zoom if they caught news of the civil litigation and if it affected their impartiality. Those two referenced the record-large sum and the timing as playing a role in swaying them.
Juror 20, before being excused, says that the trial has to be played out.
"The trial still has the right to play out right hasn't even started yet, so there's definitely a lot of facts to be heard through the trial again. I'm just trying to share with you what I know my gut reaction to that again with the dollar amount being high, and I've tried to leave it at that."
Juror 44, a white woman in her 50s, said she did see a headline and while she was surprised by timing she could remain fair. Other jurors said they had not been exposed.
Juror 20 was set to get married May 1st and acknowledged last week he might have to reschedule depending on the length of deliberations... Judge Peter Cahill said he would consider this as "data" in his decision on the defense's motion to delay the trial or move it to another county. That decision he said would come Friday.
