Jury selection begins in Minneapolis police corruption trial
Jury selection begins today in U.S. District Court in the corruption trial of a Minneapolis police officer.
Officer Mike Roberts is charged with three counts of corruption based on incidents from August of 2007. Federal prosecutors said Roberts, a 27-year veteran of the force, met with a man he knew to be a gang member and a criminal.
The man asked Roberts to use the police database to get non-public information in exchange for $100. Roberts didn't know that the gang member was working as an informant for the FBI.
According to a Star Tribune report, the FBI initiated a widespread corruption investigation of the department in 2007. The probe reportedly began after an informant alleged that Minneapolis cops were taking bribes.
Roberts' attorney F. Clayton Tyler has said Roberts was entrapped. And some black community leaders have speculated that Roberts was targeted because he's African American. Police officials have denied the investigation was based on race.
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