A new judge has been named to oversee the trial of St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez over the fatal shooting of Philando Castile.
Ramsey County Judge William H. Leary III will preside over Yanez’ trial following a motion last month by defense attorneys seeking to replace Judge Edward Wilson.
The rules of criminal procedure generally allow each side to strike one judge without cause.
“We only get one removal, but we felt (based on our) research and my personal experience … that it was important to remove (Wilson) … for our client to get a fair trial,” Earl Gray, one of the three attorneys representing Yanez, said last month.
Wilson, who is black, was appointed by Gov. Rudy Perpich in 1987 and elected to the bench in 1988, 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2012.
He was assigned to oversee Yanez’s case Monday by Ramsey County Chief District Judge John Guthmann. Guthmann, on Tuesday, assigned Leary to the case.
Leary, who is white, was appointed in 2002 by Gov. Jesse Ventura. He was elected in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
Ramsey County authorities last November charged Yanez with second-degree manslaughter and felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm in connection with the shooting death of Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights on July 6.
He is the first Minnesota officer in memory to be charged in such an incident.
The shooting gained national attention last summer after Castile’s girlfriend, who was with him in the car at the time, live-streamed the aftermath on Facebook. Protests over police shootings broke out across the Twin Cities.