Former police officer found guilty of George Floyd murder

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin was convicted on Tuesday of second-degree murder&comma; third-degree murder and manslaughter in the deadly arrest of George Floyd&comma; a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement&&num;8217&semi;s treatment of Black Americans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 12-member jury found Chauvin&comma; 45&comma; criminally liable in Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s death last year after considering three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses&comma; including bystanders&comma; police officials and medical experts&period; Jurors began their deliberations on Monday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a confrontation captured on video&comma; Chauvin&comma; who is white&comma; pushed his knee into the neck of Floyd&comma; a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs&comma; for more than nine minutes on May 25th&comma; 2020&comma; as he and three fellow officers arrested Floyd&comma; who was accused of using a fake &dollar;20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s death prompted protests against racism and police brutality in many cities in the United States and around the world last year&period; The courthouse in<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Minneapolis was surrounded by high barricades and guarded by National Guard troops&period; Many downtown businesses boarded up their windows as they braced for the verdict&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Sentencing<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>While the US criminal justice system and juries have long given leeway and some legal protection to police officers who use violence to subdue civilians&comma; the jurors in this case found that Chauvin had crossed the line and used excessive force&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines&comma; Chauvin faces 12-1&sol;2 years in prison for his murder conviction as a first-time criminal offender&period; Prosecutors could&comma; however&comma; seek a longer sentence up to the maximum of 40 years if Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill&comma; who presided over the trial&comma; determines that there were &&num;8220&semi;aggravating factors&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Minnesota&comma; convicted criminals generally leave prison on supervised release after completing two thirds of their sentence&period; Chauvin had no previous criminal convictions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chauvin had pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree unintentional murder involving &&num;8220&semi;intentional infliction of bodily harm&comma;&&num;8221&semi; third-degree unintentional &&num;8220&semi;depraved mind&&num;8221&semi; murder involving an &&num;8220&semi;act eminently dangerous to others&comma;&&num;8221&semi; and second-degree manslaughter involving a death caused by &&num;8220&semi;culpable negligence&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Biden phone call<br &sol;>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;167575" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-167575" style&equals;"width&colon; 922px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;04&sol;6A78E0A0-9B51-48A0-AED2-67A6043B6885&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"President Joe Biden" width&equals;"922" height&equals;"544" class&equals;"size-full wp-image-167575" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-167575" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">President Joe Biden<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><br &sol;>&NewLine;The jury included four white women&comma; two white men&comma; three Black men&comma; one Black woman and two multiracial women&comma; according to court records&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier on Tuesday&comma; US President Joe Biden said he had spoken by phone with members of Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s family&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;They&&num;8217&semi;re a good family&comma; and they&&num;8217&semi;re calling for peace and tranquility&comma; no matter what that verdict is&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m praying the verdict is the right verdict&comma; which is &&num;8211&semi; I think it&&num;8217&semi;s overwhelming in my view&period; I wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t say that unless the jury was sequestered now&comma; &lpar;would&rpar; not hear me say that&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Biden told reporters at the White House&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The intersection of race and law enforcement has long been contentious in the United States&comma; underscored by a series of deadly incidents involving white police officers and Black people in a number of American cities in recent years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Minneapolis Police Department fired Chauvin and three other officers the day after Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s arrest&period; The three others are due to face trial later this year on aiding-and-abetting charges in Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s death&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Medical experts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>A cardiologist&comma; a pulmonologist&comma; a toxicologist and a forensic pathologist were medical experts called by prosecutors to testify that videos and autopsy results confirmed that Chauvin killed Floyd by compressing his body into the street in a way that starved him of oxygen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defence argued that Chauvin behaved as any &&num;8220&semi;reasonable police officer&&num;8221&semi; would have under these circumstances&comma; and sought to raise doubts about the cause of Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s death&comma; saying heart disease or even the exhaust fumes from the nearby police car may have been factors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Darnella Frazier&comma; a teenager who told the jury she was taking her 9-year-old cousin to the Cup Foods grocery store that evening to get snacks&comma; was among the witnesses called by prosecutors after jurors began hearing testimony on March 29th&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Frazier had used her cellphone to make a video depicting Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s excruciating ordeal&comma; images that catalyzed the subsequent protests&period; Floyd can be heard on the video crying out for his mother and telling officers he could not breathe&period; Eventually Chauvin lifted his knee to allow paramedics to place Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s limp body onto a stretcher&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other eyewitnesses described the horror and lingering trauma of watching Floyd die in front of them&period; Courteney Ross&comma; Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s girlfriend of nearly three years&comma; recalled their first kiss and their shared struggle with opioid addiction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo appeared as a prosecution witness to testify that Chauvin&&num;8217&semi;s actions during the arrest represented an egregious breach of his training&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Courtroom<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Throughout the trial&comma; Chauvin&comma; who was free on bail&comma; wore a suit and took notes on yellow legal pads while sitting alongside defence attorney Eric Nelson&period; Members of Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s family took turns attending the trial&comma; though some tried to avert their gaze when video of Floyd&&num;8217&semi;s death&comma; recorded from multiple angles&comma; was replayed to jurors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The judge ordered the jurors to be sequestered after they began deliberations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Courtroom seating was limited because of pandemic-related restrictions&comma; leaving only single chairs at the back reserved for the families of Chauvin and Floyd&period; The Chauvin seat went mostly unclaimed until the final few days when at least two women began making appearances&period; Both declined to speak to reporters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The judge let the proceedings be broadcast live to the public&comma; a Minnesota first&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>US news networks carried much of the trial live&comma; though the coverage was sometimes interrupted by new episodes of police violence caught on camera&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For example&comma; a Black motorist named Daunte Wright was fatally shot on April 11th during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center&period; Wright&&num;8217&semi;s death has also drawn international attention and raises the prospect of another Minnesota trial in which a police officer is accused of using excessive force&period; &&num;8211&semi; Reuters<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed11ea92b29">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;divId&colon; 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed11ea92b29'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;format&colon; 'belowpost'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; document&period;readyState &equals;&equals;&equals; 'loading' &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;document&period;addEventListener&lpar; 'DOMContentLoaded'&comma; window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; else &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback&lpar;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;script>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>


Discover more from London Glossy Post

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

- Advertisement -
Exit mobile version