Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades if convicted in about two months in a case that sparked global protests, violence and a furious re-examination of racism and police in the US.
VIDEO: Judge Reads Guilty Sentences in Derek Chauvin Case | Click here for more information about the rates
The verdict caused jubilation with grief in the city and the entire country. Hundreds of people poured into the streets of Minneapolis, some running through the traffic with banners. Drivers rang their horns during the party.
“Today we can breathe again,” Floyd’s younger brother Philonise said at a cheerful family press conference where tears streamed down his cheeks as he compared Floyd to Mississippi lynch victim Emmett Till from 1955, except that this time there were cameras to let go. see the world what happened.
The jury of six whites and six black or multiracial people came back with their verdict after about 10 hours of deliberation over two days. The now-fired white officer was found guilty of second degree accidental murder, third degree murder, and second degree manslaughter.
Chauvin’s face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and there was little reaction beyond his eyes darting through the courtroom. His bail was immediately withdrawn. The sentencing will take place in two months; the most serious charge can lead to up to 40 years in prison.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson followed Chauvin out of court without comment.
VIDEO: Biden, Harris respond to Chauvin’s statement
President Joe Biden welcomed the verdict, saying that Floyd’s death was “a murder in the light of day, and it ripped off the blinders for the whole world” to see systemic racism.
But he warned, “It’s not enough. We can’t stop here. We’re going to bring about real change and reform. We can and should do more to reduce the likelihood of tragedies like this ever happening again.”
The jury’s decision was hailed as justice across the country by other political and civic leaders and celebrities, including former President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and California Governor Gavin Newsom, a white man, who said on Twitter that Floyd would live when he looked like me. That must change. ‘
In a park next to the Minneapolis Courthouse, a crowd of about 300 was silent as they listened to the verdict on their cell phones. Then there was a loud roar, with many people hugging each other, some tears shed.
At the intersection where Floyd was pinned down, a crowd shouted, “One down, three to go!” – a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis officers who were tried in August on charges of complicity and murder in Floyd’s death.
Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she felt grateful and relieved.
“I feel grounded. I feel my feet on the concrete,” she said, adding that she looked forward to the next thing with joy, optimism and strength.
VIDEO: George Floyd’s family watches the Houston verdict
Jamee Haggard, who brought her biracial 4-year-old daughter to the crossing, said, “There is coming some form of justice.”
The verdict was read in a courthouse surrounded by concrete barriers and barbed wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a town on edge due to another round of unrest – not only because of the Chauvin case, but also because of the deadly shooting of a young black by the police. husband, Daunte Wright, in suburban Minneapolis on April 11.
The jurors’ identities have been kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe.
It is uncommon for police officers to be prosecuted for murdering someone at work. And convictions are extremely rare.
Of the thousands of deadly shootings by police in the US since 2005, less than 140 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter, according to data from 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 life or death decisions in a split second. But that was not an argument that Chauvin could easily make.
Floyd, 46, died on May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a bogus $ 20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded claustrophobic, and struggled with the police when they tried to put him in a police car. Instead, they put him on the floor.
VIDEO: Judge explains charges against Chauvin
The center of the case was the excruciating spectator video of Floyd repeatedly gasping for breath, “I can’t breathe” and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop when the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck, as authorities say. was 9 1/2 minutes, including minutes after Floyd’s breathing had stopped and he had no pulse.
Prosecutors played the footage as quickly as possible, during opening statements, and told the jury, “Believe your eyes.” From there it was shown over and over, analyzed frame by frame by witnesses on both sides.
After Floyd’s death, demonstrations and scattered violence erupted in Minneapolis, across the country and beyond. The furor also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima.
In the months that followed, many states and cities restricted police use of force, renewed disciplinary systems or subjected police forces to tighter surveillance.
The Blue Wall of Silence, which often protects police accused of wrongdoing, crumbled after Floyd’s death. The Minneapolis police chief was quick to call it “murder” and fired all four officers, and the city reached a shocking $ 27 million settlement with Floyd’s family when the jury selection was underway.
VIDEO: In conclusion, open arguments in Chauvin’s trial
Police procedural experts and law enforcement veterans within and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified to the prosecution that Chauvin used excessive force and opposed his training.
Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died of asphyxiation, or lack of oxygen, because his breathing was limited by the way he was pressed to his stomach, his hands cuffed behind him, one knee in his neck, and his face to the ground. printed. .
Chauvin’s attorney called a police force expert and forensic pathologist to try to show that Chauvin was acting reasonably against a struggling suspect and that Floyd 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.
By law, the police have a certain margin of maneuver to use force and are judged based on whether their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
WATCH: Derek Chauvin invokes the 5th Amendment and declines the opportunity to testify
The defense also tried to show 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 had ever heard as a statement from him came from police camera footage after an ambulance took six-foot Floyd. Chauvin said to a bystander, “We have to control this man because he’s a good man … and it looks like he’s probably on to something.”
The prosecution’s case also included tearful testimony from onlookers who said the police stopped them protesting what happened.
Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier, who made the crucial video, said Chauvin gave the bystanders a “cold” and “heartless” look. She and others said they felt a sense of helplessness and persistent guilt from witnessing Floyd’s slow-motion death.
“It has been nights when I stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing anymore, not having physical contact and not saving his life,” 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 Brooklyn Center, Minnesota; and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.
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