Two jurors recalled for questioning in the George Floyd murder case against former police officer Derek Chauvin have been dismissed, Fox News reported.
The jurors were two of the seven brought back for further questioning, and told the court that the civil settlement between Floyd’s family and the city of Minneapolis could impair their judgement, according to Fox News. The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted to pay $27 million to Floyd’s family in a civil settlement March 12.
BREAKING: Two seated jurors in the trial for Derek Chauvin were dismissed by the judge because they were unable to avoid news of the George Floyd civil settlement. Judge Peter Cahill said they indicated they could NOT be fair and impartial. #DerekChauvin
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) March 17, 2021
Floyd family attorneys said the $27 million total makes it “the largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in U.S. history,” Law&Crime reported.
The jurors, “Juror #36” and “Juror #20,” were dismissed by Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill Wednesday.
The Minneapolis city council unanimously approves a $27 million settlement to go to the family of George Floyd.
$500,000 will go to benefit the 38th and Chicago area.@WCCO will update
— Erin Hassanzadeh WCCO (@erinreportsTV) March 12, 2021
Prior to their dismissal, Juror #36 told the court he had seen media coverage of the settlement and reinforced negative attitudes he already held toward Chauvin, according to Fox News. “I think it will be hard to be impartial,” Juror #36 told the court, according to Fox News. (RELATED: Family Of George Floyd To Receive $27 Million Settlement From Minneapolis)
Juror #20 told the court he saw a headline about the settlement that read “The City of Minneapolis agreed to pay out the family of George Floyd, I want to say, and to the tune of the 20-million-dollar range,” the juror said, according to Fox News.
“I would say especially that dollar amount was kind of shocking to me, that kind of sent a message that the city of Minneapolis felt that something was wrong. And they wanted to make it right to the tune of that dollar amount,” the juror explained, according to Fox News. “I think in the headline, if it would have said $2,000 versus 20 million, that’s a big change. So I think that that sticker price obviously shocked me and kind of swayed me a little bit,” Juror #20 also said before their dismissal, according to Fox News
“Again, I’m just trying to share with you what I what I know. My gut reaction to that. Again, with the dollar amount being high, and I’ll try to leave it at that,” the juror said, according to Fox News.
Cahill excused Juror #20 out of “extreme caution” based “on the possibility that you inadvertently saw it and it might affect your ability to be fair and impartial,” Cahill said, Fox News reported.
Cahill retained the five other jurors who had already been seated before the settlement’s announcement. Since the settlement, two more jurors have been seated, bringing the total to seven, according to Fox News.