April 12 (UPI) — Three former Minneapolis officers charged in the May 2020 killing of George Floyd rejected plea deals in a state trial.
Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, have pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting related to their role in the fatal arrest of Floyd and have rejected a deal with prosecutors ahead of the trial which is set to take place in mid-June, the Minnesota attorney general’s office told CNN.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank told Judge Peter Cahill that he had sent the men a plea offer on March 22, about a month after they were found guilty by a federal jury of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
“The offer had a deadline. That deadline has passed,” Frank said according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The charges stem from the actions the three former officers took as Derek Chauvin, their former colleague, knelt on Floyd’s neck for about 9 minutes.
Kueng and Lane held down Floyd’s torso and legs as Thao stood nearby to keep a crowd of bystanders back.
Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to two federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
