MINNEAPOLIS — Day by day, we are learning more about what exactly happened near 38th and Chicago on Memorial Day.
Last week-- body camera footage was leaked to a UK tabloid.
This week, the judge presiding over the cases for the fired officers says the media can have access to that full footage. The two clips came from body-worn cameras from former Minneapolis Police Officers J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane.
"I assume the counsel for officer Lane received it in discovery and attached it to the motion to dismiss," University of St. Thomas Robert & Marion Short professor of Law Mark Osler said.
Osler explained that because the videos were attached to the motion to dismiss, it was already a part of the record, and the media coalition, including KARE 11 motioned for access to that record.
"The Minnesota rules of criminal procedure, like many other similar codes, sets out that there needs to be fair access to the media to public information," Osler said. "That is crucial because part of what criminal law--part of what I teach-- is what are the boundaries of behavior? That's a public discussion. One that we have in not only classrooms and courtrooms but over dinner tables."
Osler said that public dialogue is crucial, even when it's not on court record and even when we're not a part of the jury.
"As voters, we talk about it among ourselves too and that really matters," Osler said. "Right now we're having a national conversation that is best if it's informed in real=time with information that doesn't hopefully prejudice the trial."
He added that depending on whom the attorneys are representing, the video in the eyes of the public might go both ways.
"The defense counsel have different interests," he said. "We know that the counsel for Officer Lane attached this to a motion. Officer Lane wants this to be seen. I suspect the counsel for Officer Chauvin would feel differently. They would not want that out in the public or before the jury probably. So it's going to cut differently for the different players."
Osler also explained that the initially, the argument for having the video sealed from the public was to minimize exposure so if and when a jury trial is to happen, finding folks to be on the jury would be easier.
"Mitigating against that a bit is the fact that people have seen a video already of this," he said. "If we're worried about first impressions being formed, everybody in the country has a first impression at this point.
He said by the point of jury selection, the efforts would have to be focused on finding someone who isn't completely unaware of the situation but someone who might be fair.
And the two body camera clips, he said, only provide more information, than just snippets of bystander video we have already seen.
"It's a different angle, it's going to have more continuity to it, and there's two of them so we're going to have two different perspectives as well," he said. "The more info we have on a case like this, the better so I'm glad that they're there."
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is currently investigating how the footage leaked last week to the Daily Mail.