Only one member of George Floyd’s family at a time is allowed in the courtroom when Derek Chauvin’s murder trial starts next week, a judge ruled Tuesday, March 2, 2021, according to NBC News.
Chauvin’s family has also been restricted to one at a time in the courtroom, NBC News reported, citing Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill’s Tuesday ruling.
Jury selection is to begin Monday in the trial of Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes during an arrest in May. Chauvin was fired after the fatal arrest, which prompted nationwide protests over the treatment of Black men by the police and calls for widespread police reform.
NBC News also reported that those attending the trial in person had been ordered to follow coronavirus restrictions and were barred from wearing “any mask or article of clothing that contains any image, logo, letters, or numbers that are visible.”
In a Tuesday statement, two attorneys representing Floyd’s family said the family members “understand the judge’s reasons to limit attendance in the courtroom” but were “understandably disappointed by this ruling, ” according to NBC News.
It has been a “deeply painful and emotional year for every member of the Floyd family, many of whom intended to be in the courtroom to witness this trial,” said the statement from the attorneys Benjamin Crump and Antonio Romanucci, according to NBC News.
An attorney representing Chauvin did not immediately return a request for comment from Insider.
Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death. The three other officers who were present during Floyd’s arrest are scheduled to stand trial together in August. All four were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department after Floyd’s death.
