Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday was found guilty of murdering George Floyd during his arrest last year.
Jurors deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days before reaching a verdict in the high-profile and closely watched case stemming from Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death — which kicked off worldwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Chauvin, 45, was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He faces up to 40 years behind bars on the top charge.
Forty-five witnesses were called to the stand over nearly three weeks of testimony in Hennepin County District Court — 38 of them brought to the stand by state prosecutors.
The four-member prosecution team, led by Assistant State Attorney General Matthew Frank, focused repeatedly on viral video footage of Floyd’s death, which included Chauvin pressing his knee on the man’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.
Prosecutors contend that Floyd died of asphyxiation as a result of the restraint, with Chauvin seen keeping his knee on his neck even after paramedics arrived at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue and found Floyd had no pulse.
But Chauvin lawyer Eric Nelson hinged his case on three assertions: that Floyd died due to drug use and a heart ailment; that an unruly crowd of bystanders posed a threat and distracted the cop; and that Chauvin followed his training in using the restraint.
The two sides presented contradicting testimony from medical experts on Floyd’s cause of death and the results of his autopsy — which was ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County medical examiner.
The medical examiner testified that neck compression killed him, although Floyd had several underlying conditions that contributed to his death.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said Chauvin violated department policy and training during the fatal encounter.
On the final day of trial, Chauvin told the judge he would not testify in his own defense and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
The trial took place under heavy security and barricades placed outside the courthouse in anticipation of unrest stemming from the verdict. Police in cities throughout the US, including the Big Apple, were also prepared for potential violence following the verdict.
Meanwhile, the police shooting death of Daunte Wright — a 20-year-old black man killed earlier this month when a cop allegedly mistook her gun for her Taser in the neighboring city of Brooklyn Center — has sparked a new round of violent protests, heightening tensions.
Wright died about 10 miles away from where Floyd was killed.
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]
Rot in jail Derek!!! I hope all you racist white cops learn from this because I don’t see you doing this to your kind smh.
He meant that he was going to kill a black man that day. Look at his face. There was sheer diabolism. The man is a cold blooded killer. He even put his hand in his pocket to bear down more on the man’s neck. How could anyone be so cruel. He is sick. I hope he gets what’s his in prison. It seems to be hunting season on the black man, even by other black men. You don’t only get killed by the gun, the knife or the knee. Depriving black seniors of their pension is just as deadly.
All of this took place in “the land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE”. The country that Missa Knight has pledged his allegiance to.
Now that this is over. The correct results has been rendered. Let us begin to address black on black crimes in this country. Too many young black men are being murdered by other young black men.
That blue-eyed devil bites the dust. I’ll be amazed if he’ll be able to survive the prison environment.
BLM made threats of violence if they didn’t get the outcome they wanted (they rioted anyway) plus the exposure of the jury members names and addresses to the public, contributed to a tainted verdict.
Let’s not forget Congresswoman Maxine Water’s speech to the BLM/Antifa crowd inciting violence before the verdict..
TO THE PEOPLE REPLYING HERE:
YOU people are the RACISTS…. Ya’ll are sick !
YOU ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES.
You wait and see. This verdict will be overturned in a higher court.
This wasn’t justice… it was INJUSTICE !
You’re joking right? Did you watch the video of the murder? Just trying to figure this out, are you advocating that the state (represented by the police) should be able to murder people without repercussions? Doesn’t sound like justice to me.
People are rioting because cops are still killing human beings without accountability, there was yet another police killing (of a 15 year old girl) minutes before this verdict was announced. This issue will not be resolved just by imprisoning cops who murder people (altho you clearly don’t even advocate for that) because it is systemic and always has been. Most policing institutions in the americas (including here in antigua) were founded either to catch runaway slaves or after emancipation to control uprisings of freepeople (ie riots) and keep the labour force in check. Now, the world over, we can see police budgets skyrocketing as they become more and more militarised, largely in order to suppress protests and direct action (in the usa police departments can actually buy surplus military gear to arm themselves with tanks and grenade launchers).
“Advocating violence” is a fairly empty accusation coming from someone actively supporting state murder. BLM is largely a movement calling to (underneath the very obvious stop killing black people) scale down policing, and instead focus on building community social programs in order to prevent violence in the first place.
ps antifa is short for antifascist, and if you’re not antifascist you’re probably supporting fascism (maybe unconsciously) as there really isn’t much room in between.
bless
So why burn down and wreck and ruin innocent people’s business places? They are just inciting more anger fr the white man. What they are doing is provocation, they are acting just like the ones they say are killing them.
Some are saying that the jurors were scared for their lives and the riots if they had voted otherwise. Me, I don’t give two figs about none of them. The way blacks are mowing down blacks dead in my neck of the wood, it’s scary. Black lives do not matter to them until a white person does something to a black person.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters is one of the greatest Black women of our time, also a real friend to the Caribbean and Antigua. She never incited violence. She calls for and continues to call for JUSTICE. You can support that blue-eyed devil if you want to, but you obviously have no concept of justice. Educate yourself. Rise up and be free!
@Conrad the Red: Are you smoking dope? Maxime Waters and her husband should have been sent to Prison. Instead the Congress gave her a slap on the risks. Your measurements of Greatest Black Woman is very low. She does incite violence in her speeches. She is a sell out of black people. She does even live in the district she represents in California. She moved into a gated high priced uppity area. Where those she represents could never afford to live.
Hey you narcissistic, depraved, morbid, sick and shameless supremacist! Which part of hell are you from? Are you really in the name of justice and right condemning this verdict? Are you saying that Diabolic Chauvin Was/is innocent? You have just made it clear how despicably chauvinistic (pun intended) you also are!
How can you be so inhumanely reckless to make such a sordid declaration on this forum? People like you should not be allowed to breathe this precious gift of life. You are an embarrassment to humanity.
Please crawl back into your hole of hell before someone in anger send you there!!
Comments are closed.