<p>Prosecutors had asked for a delay until a court of appeals can rule on whether a third-degree murder charge can be reinstated against Chauvin.</p><p>The 44-year-old is already facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for Floyd's May 25, 2020 death.</p><p>"We have jurors but I think realistically we're not going to get to any jury selection and we won't have an answer (from the court of appeals) until at least tomorrow," the judge said.</p><p>"So unless any of the parties object I'm going to kick our jurors loose and start everything tomorrow with jury selection."</p><p>The judge called a recess until 10:00 am Central Time (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.</p><p>Chauvin, who has been free on bail, appeared in court wearing a dark suit and a face mask at a desk surrounded by plexiglass as a Covid-19 precaution.</p><p>He appeared to closely follow the procedural arguments and was seen at one point jotting down notes on a yellow legal pad. </p><p>Chauvin was arrested and dismissed from the police force after he was seen on video with his knee on the neck of a pleading, gasping Floyd for nearly nine minutes.</p><h1>Racial wounds</h1><p>Floyd's death laid bare racial wounds in the United States and sparked months of sometimes violent protests against racism, injustice and police brutality, both in the US and abroad.</p><p>Lawyers for both sides face the difficult task of finding jurors who have not already made up their minds about the widely publicized case.</p><p>Jury selection is expected to take up to three weeks, with arguments slated to begin on March 29.</p><p>Three other police officers involved in Floyd's arrest -- Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao -- face lesser charges and will be tried separately.</p><p>All four officers were fired by the Minneapolis Police Department.</p><p>Floyd's arrest was prompted by accusations that he tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill in a nearby store.</p><p>Among the hundreds of protesters gathered in Minneapolis on Monday morning was Marcus X. Smith, who stood on a sidewalk using a karaoke machine to blare his message to the crowd carrying "Black Lives Matter" posters and pictures of Floyd.</p><p>"There's a problem in America," Smith told AFP. "The problem is the system we're fighting. Cops get acquitted in a racist system."</p><p>Smith said if Chauvin is acquitted he does not want to see a repetition of the destruction and looting that followed Floyd's death.</p><p>"Instead of burning the city down," Smith said, "lock the city down."</p><p>Chauvin's case is being watched as a potential marker of change in a country that recently elected its first Black vice president, but where police officers historically have often escaped punishment for abusive acts.</p><p>It will feature gripping testimony, as foreshadowed Sunday by Benjamin Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney representing the Floyd family.</p><p>"You look at the video, and you hear him say 28 times, 'I can't breathe,'" Crump told ABC's "This Week." </p><p>"The public is begging the police to take the knee off his neck. They say his nose is bleeding; he can't breathe; he is going unconscious -- you're going to kill him."</p><h1>'Exactly as he was trained to do'</h1><p>Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing rules mean seating will be limited at the trial, with the Floyd and Chauvin families given only one seat a day. </p><p>Despite intense global interest, only two reporters will be allowed in each day.</p><p>The Minnesota attorney general's office brought in Neal Katyal, a former US acting solicitor general who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, to help with the prosecution.</p><p>Lawyers for Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the force, have argued that he was following police procedure.</p><p>"Mr. Chauvin acted according to MPD policy, his training and within his duties as a licensed peace officer of the State of Minnesota," according to his lawyer, Eric Nelson. "He did exactly as he was trained to do."</p><p>According to Nelson, Floyd died of an overdose of fentanyl. </p><p>An autopsy did find traces of the drug in Floyd's system but said the cause of death was "neck compression."</p><p>A verdict is not expected until late April.</p>
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