Ex-cops 'acted together' in Floyd's death -lawyer

Protesters gathered outside a Minneapolis court on Friday for a pretrial hearing in the case of four former police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd -- the first time that all four defendants appeared together since the May 25 death that sparked global protests against racism and police brutality.

At the hearing, special prosecutor Neal Katyal argued that all four former officers "acted together" in causing Floyd's death, while defense lawyers strongly opposed the prosecution's bid for a joint trial.

Katyal told the judge that a joint trial was justified because separate trials would force witnesses and relatives to repeatedly relive the trauma of Floyd's death.

Derek Chauvin, who was seen on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, left the courthouse to jeering and cursing from the crowd outside. He faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder.

"We just sat through a very emotional hearing, where people tried to kill George Floyd a second time."

After the hearing, Floyd's relatives and the family's lawyer Ben Crump pushed back against the assertion made by defense attorneys that Floyd, who had fentanyl in his system, died of an overdose, rather than cardiopulmonary arrest, the official cause of death.

"The only overdose that killed George Floyd was an overdose of excessive force and racism by the Minnesota... Minneapolis Police Department."