MINNEAPOLIS – After more than 10 hours of deliberation a jury has found Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged in the death of George Floyd, guilty on all charges in the case.
Chauvin was charged with unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25 death, following an arrest that happened on suspicion Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a convenience store.
The most serious charge, the second-degree murder count, carries up to 40 years in prison. Chauvin pleaded not guilty. He was held in police custody ahead of a future sentencing.
Floyd, a 46-year-old man, was declared dead after Chauvin pressed his knee against his neck for about nine minutes.
His death sparked protests and civil unrest in Minneapolis and across the U.S. over police brutality, at points turning violent.
The verdict comes after the jury listened to three weeks of evidence filled with countless surveillance videos, emotional testimony and medical experts.
Prosecutors argued that Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd even though he was not resisting, using excessive force in violation of police training, and even when one of the onlookers identified herself as a firefighter and pleaded repeatedly to check Floyd’s pulse, according to witnesses and video.
The defense argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer’s knee, as prosecutors contend, but by Floyd’s illegal drug use, heart disease, high blood pressure and the adrenaline flowing through his body.
The prosecution called 11 days worth of witness to the stand whereas the defense only used two days of testimony before resting its case.
The jury was sequestered at a hotel in a city whose downtown is filled with National Guard troops and boarded-up windows, preparing for potential unrest.
City, county and state officials are preparing for any sort of reaction that the verdict might elicit. Barbed and razor wire and concrete barriers surround the courthouse, and strict security was in place to protect trial proceedings. City and state leaders want to avoid a repeat of last year’s protests and rioting that destroyed dozens of businesses and a police station.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
I hope we get the right verdict in the Ashli Babbitt shooting trial.
(JUST KIDDING: The black man who shot her hasn’t even been charged).
In 2009, George Floyd was arrested for a 1st-degree felony charge, as per police criminal records/history/past, of assault and armed robbery he took part in 2007 and spent five years in prison for breaking into a lady’s house with the intent to rob her. George agreed that he wore a blue uniform to look like a government employee to gain the lady’s trust, and eventually pave his way into the house.
The lady soon realized that the person was impersonating to be a government worker, she tried to shut the door but Floyd brute-forced his way into the house. Consequently, a Ford truck pulled up to the house’s main entrance, five people exited the truck and went straight inside the lady’s house.
According to Daily Mail (UK), the court report mentions that the victim identified George as the criminal, tallest of all the robbers, who pressed a pistol to her (pregnant) stomach and forced his way into the house.
if that’s true he did his time and as far as I know, none of those crimes carry a death sentence as horrible as they are. none of that matters as it was Officer Chauvin that was on trial.