The “Blue Wall of Silence” that often protects police accused of wrongdoing crumbled after Floyd’s death: The Minneapolis police chief quickly called it “murder” and fired all four officers, and the city reached a staggering $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family as jury selection was underway. In the months that followed, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by police, revamped disciplinary systems or subjected police departments to closer oversight. The furor also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima. In the wake of Floyd’s death, demonstrations and scattered violence broke out in Minneapolis, around the country and beyond. Prosecutors played the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, with Jerry Blackwell telling the jury: “Believe your eyes.” And it was shown over and over, analyzed one frame at a time by witnesses on both sides. The centerpiece of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breathe” and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was 9 1/2 minutes. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. The jurors’ identities were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.įloyd, 46, died May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. The verdict was read in a courthouse ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on edge against another round of unrest - not just because of the Chauvin case but because of the deadly police shooting of a young Black man, Daunte Wright, in a Minneapolis suburb April 11. That’s social transformation that says no one is beneath the law and no one is above it.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison commended the bystanders at Floyd’s slow-motion death who “raised their voices because they knew that what they were seeing was wrong,” and then “told the whole world” what they saw.Įllison read off the names of others killed in encounters with police and said: “This has to end. Van Jones, Don Lemon React to Derek Chauvin's Guilty Verdict On-Air: "There's a Lot More to Be Done" Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, who pounded away at Chauvin’s witnesses during the trial, said the verdict sends a message to Floyd’s family “that he was somebody, that his life matters.” “Justice was served,” the 32-year-old from Minneapolis said. I can feel my feet on the concrete,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to the “next case with joy and optimism and strength.”Īn ecstatic Whitney Lewis leaned halfway out a car window in a growing traffic jam of revelers waving a Black Lives Matter flag. Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she felt grateful and relieved. When the final guilty verdict was announced, the crowd roared, many people hugging, some shedding tears.Īt the intersection where Floyd was pinned down, a crowd chanted, “One down, three to go!” - a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis police officers facing trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death. Sentencing will be in two months.ĭefense attorney Eric Nelson followed Chauvin out of the courtroom without comment.Īs the judge asked jurors if they reached a verdict, a hush fell on the crowd 300 strong in a park adjacent to the courthouse, with people listening to the proceedings on their cellphones. His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. His face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom. Chauvin was found guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial people came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days.
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