MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – After three weeks of testimony, the trial of the former police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd ended quickly: barely more than a day of jury deliberations, then just minutes to read the verdict – guilty, guilty and guilty – and Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and taken to prison.
Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades when he is sentenced in about two months in a case that has sparked worldwide protests, violence and a furious investigation into racism and policing in the US.
The verdict caused cheers, mixed with sadness, all over the city and around the country. Hundreds of people streamed into the streets of Minneapolis, some walking with banners through traffic. Drivers blow their horns in celebration.
“Today we can breathe again,” Floyd’s younger brother Philonise said at a joyous family conference where tears streamed down his face as he compared Floyd to 1955 Miss Emettett Till in Mississippi, except that this time there were cameras to show the world what happened.
Philonise Floyd described his thoughts on Wednesday as he watched Chauvin being handcuffed. He recalled ABC’s “Good Morning America” how it seemed to Chauvin “much easier” than when his brother was handcuffed before his death, but said it was still “accountable”.
“It makes us happier knowing that his life was important, and that he did not die in vain,” he said.
The jury of six whites and six black or multiracial people returned with their verdict after about ten hours of deliberations over two days. The now fired white officer has been convicted second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree homicide.
Chauvin’s face was darkened by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen outside his eyes wandering around the courtroom. His bail was immediately revoked. Sentencing will last for two months; the most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson followed Chauvin out of the courtroom without comment.
Shortly after the verdict was read, Chauvin was read in Minnesota’s only high-security prison, Oak Park Heights, about 40 miles east of Minneapolis. Sarah Fitzgerald, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, detained in a single cell for administrative reasons for the sake of her safety.
President Joe Biden welcomed the ruling, saying Floyd’s death was a “murder in the full light of day, and it tore the blinds out of the whole world” to see systemic racism.
But he warned: ‘It is not enough. We can not stop here. We are going to bring about real change and reform. We can and must do more to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies ever happening again. ”
The jury’s decision has been hailed as justice across the country by other political and civic leaders and celebrities, including former President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Gavin Newsom, a white man who said on Twitter that Floyd ‘would still be alive if he looked like me. That needs to change. ”
At a park next to the Minneapolis courthouse, a silence fell over a crowd of about 300 as they listened to the verdict on their cell phones. Then there was a great tumult, with many people embracing, and some shed tears.
At the intersection where Floyd was pinned, a crowd shouted, “One down, three to go!” – a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis officers on trial in August on charges of murder in Floyd’s death.
Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she feels grateful and relieved.
“I feel grounded. I feel my feet on the concrete, ‘she said, adding that she was looking forward to the next matter with joy and optimism and strength.
Jamee Haggard, who brought her two-year-old daughter to the intersection, said: “There comes a form of justice.”
The verdict was read in a court building surrounded by concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by the National Guard troops, in a city on the brink of another unrest – not only because of the case in Chauvin, but also because of the deadly police shooting at a young Black man, Daunte Wright, in a suburb of Minneapolis on April 11th.
The jurors’ identities have been kept secret and will only be revealed before the judge decides it is safe to do so.
It is unusual for police officers to be prosecuted for killing someone at work. And convictions are extremely rare.
Of the thousands of fatal police shootings in the United States since 2005, less than 140 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter, according to information maintained by Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. Before Tuesday, only seven had been convicted of murder.
Juries often give police officers the benefit of the doubt when they claim they had to make decisions in a second, a life or a death. But that was not an argument Chauvin could easily make.
Floyd, 46, died on May 25 after being arrested for passing on a $ 20 counterfeit bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleading that he was claustrophobic and struggling with the police when they tried to put him in a group car. They rather put him on the ground.
The focus of the case was the exciting bystander video of Floyd sniffing repeatedly: “I can not breathe” and the bystanders shouting at Chauvin to stop while the officer pressed his knee on or near Floyd’s neck for what according to authorities 9 1/2 was minute, included minutes after Floyd’s breathing stopped and he had no pulse.
Prosecutors first played the footage during the opening statements and told the jury, “Believe your eyes.” From there, it was shown time and time again, one frame at a time analyzed by witnesses on both sides.
In the aftermath of Floyd’s death, protests and widespread violence broke out in Minneapolis, across the country and beyond. The anger also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima.
In the ensuing months, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by the police, overhauled disciplinary systems, or placed police departments under closer scrutiny. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday morning that the Department of Justice is opening a comprehensive investigation policing practices in Minneapolis.
The story of Floyd’s death began with a late news release in Minneapolis police, which said Floyd “apparently had medical distress” after resisting arrest and being handcuffed. After teenager Darnella Frazier’s bystander video surfaced, a department spokeswoman said it had become clear that the statement was inaccurate., and the ‘Blue Wall of Silence’ which quickly dismantled the police accused of misconduct.
The Minneapolis police chief quickly called it a “murder” and fired all four officers, and the city reached a staggering $ 27 million settlement with Floyd’s family. as the selection of the jury was ongoing.
Police prosecution experts and law enforcement veterans inside and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified for the prosecution that Chauvin used excessive force and went against his training.
Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died of asphyxia, or lack of oxygen, because his breathing was restricted by the way he was held on his stomach, his hands were handcuffed behind him, a knee on his neck and his face against the ground. .
Chauvin’s lawyer called an expert on the use of police and a forensic pathologist to try to make out the case that Chauvin had acted reasonably against a struggling suspect and that Floyd had died of a heart condition and his illegal drug use. Floyd had high blood pressure and narrowed arteries, and fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in his system.
Under the law, the police have a certain chance of using force and they are judged according to whether their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
The defense also tried to state the case that Chauvin and the other officers were hindered in their duties by what they saw as a growing, hostile crowd.
Chauvin did not testify, and everything the jury or the public ever heard from him by way of explanation came from a police video camera after an ambulance struck the 6-foot 4, 223-pound Floyd. took away. Chauvin told a bystander, “We have to control this guy, because he’s a handsome guy … and it looks like he’s probably doing something.”
The prosecutor’s case also included tearful testimony from spectators who said police were holding them back as they protested about what was happening.
Frazier, who shot the important video, said Chauvin gave bystanders a ‘cold’ and ‘heartless’ look. She and others said they had a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt through witnessing Floyd’s slow death.
“It was all nights that I stayed awake, and apologized and George Floyd apologized for not doing more, and that I did not have physical interaction and did not save his life,” he said. she testified.
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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and writers Doug Glass, Stephen Groves, Aaron Morrison, Tim Sullivan and Michael Tarm in Minneapolis; Mohamed Ibrahim in downtown Brooklyn, Minnesota; and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.
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Find AP’s full coverage of George Floyd’s death at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd