Newsman: A panel of jurors has found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty Tuesday on all three charges in connection with the May 2020 death of George Floyd. The jury announced that it has found him guilty across the board after one of the most closely watched criminal trials in recent memory. Chauvin, 45, was charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. Chauvin’s sentencing is scheduled for eight weeks from now, the judge said.
It took the jury about 10 hours and 20 minutes to reach a decision, which was read late in the afternoon in a city on edge regarding the possibility of more unrest like that that erupted last spring. He faces up to 75 years in prison when he returns for sentencing in eight weeks.
Outside the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, which had been enclosed with razor wire, the crowd erupted into cheers when word of the verdict filtered out.
“All three counts! All three counts!” the crowd chanted as cars honked and people danced on the blocked off streets, some of them waving Black Lives Matter flags.
Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd was in the courtroom when Chauvin’s conviction was read and was with his family later when they received a congratulatory call from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re all so relieved,” Biden told the family. “We’re going to get a lot more done.”
“This is a day of justice,” Harris chimed in.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that the verdict was “a first step towards justice” and that Floyd had “sparked a worldwide movement.”
“George Floyd mattered,” Ellison said.
The jury was made up of seven women and five men. Six jurors were White, four were Black and two identified as multiracial. Jurors were sequestered, their whereabouts kept secret, during deliberations that began Monday afternoon. After three weeks of witness testimony, took a little over 10 hours to reach the unanimous verdict.
Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. Third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. Second-degree manslaughter is punishable by up to 10 years.
The third-degree murder charge had initially been dismissed, but it was reinstated after an appeals court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds for it days before jury selection started.
Prosecutors argued that Chauvin’s actions caused Floyd to die from low oxygen, or asphyxia. The defense claimed that Floyd’s illegal drug use and a pre-existing heart condition were to blame and urged jurors not to rule out other theories, as well, including exposure to carbon monoxide.
During closing arguments, prosecutors sought to focus jurors’ attention on the 9 minutes, 29 seconds they say Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, while Chauvin’s defense attorney told them that “the 9 minutes and 29 seconds ignores the previous 16 minutes and 59 seconds” of the interaction. Police were called to the area on that day for a report that Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a neighborhood convenience store, Cup Foods.
Prosecutors called 38 witnesses, including the teenager who recorded the widely seen bystander video that brought global attention to Floyd’s death. She and other bystanders who testified said that they are haunted by Floyd’s death and that they wish they had done more to try to save his life. The defense called seven witnesses, two of whom were experts.
Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin is led away in handcuffs after a jury found him guilty of second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter in George Floyd’s death.
Chauvin had agreed to plead guilty to third-degree murder days after Floyd’s death, but William Barr, then the U.S. attorney general, rejected the deal because, officials said, he was worried that it was too early in the investigation and that it would be perceived as too lenient.
Floyd’s death touched off international protests against police brutality and racial injustice. The city of Minneapolis had spent months preparing for the trial and for the potential of unrest over the verdict.
His death prompted widespread protests, which lasted months, and calls for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.
