Judge OKs 3rd-degree Murder Charge for Ex-cop in Floyd Death

The move offers jurors an additional option for conviction and finally resolves an issue that might have delayed his trial for months.

Demonstrators hold signs outside outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 8.Photographer: Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg
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Minneapolis (AP) -- A judge on Thursday granted prosecutors’ request to add a third-degree murder count against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, offering jurors an additional option for conviction and resolving an issue that might have delayed his trial for months.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill reinstated the charge after the former officer, Derek Chauvin, failed to get appellate courts to block it. Cahill had earlier rejected the charge as not warranted by the circumstances of Floyd’s death, but an appellate court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds.