It was guilty as charged verdict for Minneapolis police officer , Derek Chauvin, 45, who was charged for murder and manslaughter in death of George Floyd.
Chauvin faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison on the top charge.
The jury returned its verdict on Tuesday afternoon after just 10 and a half hours of deliberation
As the verdict was read out Chauvin looked on silently in the courtroom as the judge found him guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
Jurors had spent three weeks listening to testimony about the day George Floyd died under the weight of Chauvin’s knee during an arrest outside the Cup Foods convenience store in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020
Judge Peter Cahill thanked the jury on behalf of the state of Minnesota for not only jury service but ‘heavy duty jury service.’ The state moved immediately to have Chauvin’s bail revoked pending sentencing which will happen in eight weeks. Judge Cahill did so and Chauvin was remanded into custody taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
The crowds that had gathered outside the courthouse and down at the intersection of 38th and Chicago now known as George Floyd Square applauded the judgment. Cup Foods, the store in which Floyd was last seen alive, closed its doors to customers ahead of the decision.
Floyd’s younger brother, Philonise, 39, who took a knee at the courthouse steps at the start of the trial, was in court to hear the verdict read. He hugged Attorney General Keith Ellison and trial attorney Jerry Blackwell, whose voice was the first and last heard by the jury as he delivered both the state’s opening statement and their final rebuttal.
The jury sent their notice that a verdict had been reached at 2.30pm local time as Minneapolis and the country braced for potential violence stemming from the decision. Jurors had not sent back any questions to the judge or asked to review any of the hours of video or hundreds of exhibits entered in the course of the trial.
The verdict came just hours after President Joe Biden called the evidence against Chauvin ‘overwhelming’ and revealed he called Floyd’s family to share his support after the jury retired on Monday evening.