By Jonathan Elendu
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd on May 25, 2020,
has been found guilty on all three charges by a jury of 12 persons.
Chauvin had been charged on 3rd-degree unintentional murder, 2nd-degree unintentional murder and 2nd-degree unintentional manslaughter charges for the death of George Floyd which was captured on video and shown all over the world.
George Floyd is alleged to have tried to pass off a fake 20 dollar bill in a Minneapolis shop.
The attendant called the police which led to the arrest of Floyd.
As he was handcuffed and placed in a prone position on a sidewalk, Derek Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. All pleas by passers-by to Chauvin were ignored.
For more than 20 times George Floyd pleaded for his life saying he couldn’t breathe. Officer Chauvin stoically kept his knee on Floyd’s neck.
When paramedics arrived some ten minutes later, they attempted to resuscitate Floyd but it was too late.
He was dead.
The trial of Derek Chauvin took about two weeks with the prosecution parading sympathetic witnesses and credible experts.
Some of the prosecution witnesses cried on the stand, including the 19-year-old Darnella Frazier who at 18 took the video that showed the last moments of George Floyd’s life.
“Sometimes I sit up at night apologising to Mr Floyd because I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t help him,” the 19-year-old Darnella tearfully recounted on the stand.
“But that’s what you should’ve done, it was your job,” she angrily said to Derek Chauvin in court.
Police experts in the use of force, including Derek Chauvin’s trainer all said he used excessive force unnecessarily.
The defence put on a lacklustre case claiming George Floyd died of drug overdose and enlarged heart due to hypertension.
From the verdict of the jury, it is obvious they did not accept the position of the defence.
After the verdict was read, Derek Chauvin’s bail was revoked and he was handcuffed and sent to jail to await sentencing. He is likely to receive up to 45 years jail sentence in line with Minnesota sentencing guidelines
