Listen to this article

On Tuesday, former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all counts in the death of George Floyd. The killing of Floyd sparked worldwide protests and reckoning on race in the US. The jury found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter after about a day of deliberations. Judge Peter Cahill read the verdict at the heavily secured Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis. A cheer could be heard from the crowd of peaceful protesters that had gathered outside. Chauvin showed little reaction after the verdict was announced. Judge Cahill announced his bail had been canceled and Chauvin has led away in handcuffs. Judge also said sentencing will take place in about 8-weeks.

The jury of 6 White people, 4 Black people, and 2 multiracial people heard around 13 days of emotional testimony. The jury was isolated during deliberations but was not sequestered during the earlier portion of the trial. The prosecutor Steve Schleicher urged jurors in his closing argument to focus on the video showing Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes. Schleicher said, “Believe your eyes. Unreasonable force, pinning him to the ground, that’s what killed him. This was a homicide”. He said that Chauvin showed indifference to Floyd’s pleas for help and continued restraining the man even after he was unresponsive, ignoring the bystanders who were urging him to ease up. Schleicher added, “This case is exactly what you thought when you first saw it when you first saw the video”.

Schleicher also said, “It’s exactly that. It’s exactly what you saw with your eyes. It’s exactly what you knew. It’s exactly what you felt in your gut. It’s what you now know in your heart. This wasn’t policing, this was murder”. The defense attorney Eric Nelson said in his closing argument that the state hasn’t proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and hasn’t been able to definitely show how Floyd died. He said, “The state called a series of experts to testify positional asphyxia was the cause of Floyd’s death, it flies in the face of reason and common sense to suggest that Floyd’s drug use and heart disease didn’t play a role. Nelson argued a combination of Floyd’s underlying heart disease, adrenaline, fentanyl, and methamphetamine he had ingested before the arrest.