Derek Chauvin, 45, spends his first night in maximum security prison and is placed on suicide watch after being found guilty on ALL three charges of murder and manslaughter in death of George Floyd
Derek Chauvin is waking up today in Minnesota's maximum security prison where he has been placed on suicide watch after being found guilty on all three counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
Tuesday's verdict triggered cheers outside the Minneapolis courthouse and massive celebrations across America while Joe Biden vowed to push through civil rights reforms after the killing he called a 'stain on the nation's soul.'
Within minutes Biden phoned Floyd's family to tell them that his death, which had sparked a wave of global Black Lives Matter protests, was going to 'change the world.'
The president was backed by other by senior Democrats, including Barack Obama who said 'we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.'
Chauvin looked around in seeming disbelief as the judge read the decision, which centered around footage of the nine minutes and 29 seconds that he had knelt on Floyd's neck as the handcuffed, unarmed black man cried out: 'I can't breathe' on May 25, 2020.
It took the jury just over ten hours of deliberation to find Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter based on a mountain of evidence and testimony presented over 15 days of trial in the Hennepin County court.
Each charge required jurors to find that Chauvin's actions were a 'substantial causal factor' in Floyd's death and that his use of force was unreasonable.
Chauvin was led away in handcuffs as the judge immediately revoked his bail pending sentencing and dispatched him to Minnesota's only maximum security prison, MCF-Oak Park Heights.
The 45-year-old former cop faces a minimum sentence of 12.5 years and maximum of 40 years if he serves terms for each charge concurrently. If served consecutively, Chauvin faces between 29 and 75 years.
No prisoner has ever escaped from MCF-Oak Park Heights, which sits about 25 miles east of Minneapolis near the Wisconsin border and houses around 500 of the most high-risk inmates in the state.
Chauvin is being closely watched by guards to ensure his safety, not just as a suicide risk, but also from other inmates with violent criminal histories, many of whom resent law enforcement.
As Chauvin was placed on suicide watch:
- Biden, Obama and other senior Democrats vowed to make Floyd's death a turning point in civil rights
- Biden phoned Floyd's family outside the court to pledge that he was going to change the course of history
- People took to the streets across the country, from Minnesota to New York, as the historic verdict came in
- Thousands of relieved National Guard in Minneapolis were able to stand down after weeks on tenterhooks
- Floyd's family held a press conference, with his six-year-old daughter Gianna among the tearful gathering
- 'We are able to breathe again,' younger brother Philonise said. 'Justice for George means freedom for all'
- Far-left Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, claim that verdict 'is not justice'
Derek Chauvin is pictured in court on Tuesday as the jury found him guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd
Chauvin was led out of the court in handcuffs after the verdict came down on Tuesday afternoon. He had reportedly scribbled his lawyer's phone number on the palm of his hand (right) before he was escorted out
Chauvin, 45, was accused of killing Floyd by pinning his knee on the 46-year-old black man's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs after being detained for using an alleged counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes
A woman cheers after the verdict was read on Tuesday at the Hennepin County courthouse
People celebrate Chauvin's guilty verdict, at the site where Floyd was killed in May, on Tuesday afternoon
People cheer outside the Cup Foods where Floyd died after Chauvin was found guilty on Tuesday
Cheers rose from the crowds that had gathered outside the courthouse after the verdict was read
No prisoner has ever escaped from Oak Park Heights which houses around 500 of the most dangerous inmates in the country, 25 miles east of Minneapolis, on the border with Wisconsin. Chauvin is being closely watched by guards to ensure his safety, not just as a suicide risk, but also from other inmates with violent criminal histories, many of whom resent law enforcement.
Chauvin is being closely watched by guards at the prison to ensure his safety, not just as a suicide risk, but also from other inmates
The medical cell inside Oak Park Heights - designed so inmates never have to leave
Jim Bruton, former warden of Oak Park Heights, described in his 2004 book about the prison how the hierarchy among inmates was determined by the crime committed. At the top of the scale are those who have killed a law enforcement officer. At the bottom are sex offenders, with child molesters considered the lowest of the low.
This hierarchy, coupled with Chauvin's infamy as a police officer, means he will undoubtedly require bolstered protection and constant monitoring.
Cheers rang out across America, from Minnesota to New York City, on Tuesday afternoon as thousands celebrated the verdict in the case which had sparked months of rioting and set in motion the global Black Lives Matter movement.
President Biden phoned family members and lawyers for George Floyd just minutes after the verdict came in, consoling family members and celebrating a verdict that he said would 'change the world.'
The call, and those from Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Jill Biden, was played on speaker phone by lead attorney Benjamin Crump as members of the family gathered around as the moment was broadcast live on cable news.
'Feeling better now,' Biden told tearful family members and listeners who gathered around the phone of Philonise Floyd, George's younger brother, 'Nothing is going to make it all better. But at least, God, now there's some justice.'
Biden referenced comments by Floyd's daughter, Gianna, that her late father was going to change the world.
'He's going to start to change it now,' Biden told the group.
Biden previously revealed he also called the family Monday, with the outcome uncertain – and as the White House noted repeatedly, the jury was sequestered.
Minneapolis had been on tenterhooks waiting for the verdict to come in amid fears that if a guilty verdict had not been returned then riots would have ensued. The National Guard had been deployed and razor wire surrounded the courthouse.
Biden said: 'We've been watching every second of this, and the vice president, all of us. We were all so relieved, not just one verdict but all three.'
Harris, the nation's first black and first female vice president, also spoke. 'I'm just so grateful for the entire family,' she said, saluting 'your courage, your commitment.'
'This is a day of justice in America,' Harris said. She called the family 'real leaders when we needed you.'
'History will look back at this moment and know that it was an inflection moment,' she said. 'We're going to make something good come out of this tragedy, okay?' she said.
Then Biden chimed back in, 'When we do it, we're going to put you on Air Force One and get you here,' prompting laughs.
Floyd's younger brother Philonise, who had taken 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.
Moments later the family held a press conference outside the courtroom with their lawyer Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
'Today, we are able to breathe again,' younger brother Philonise said. 'Justice for George means freedom for all.'
Tears streamed down his face as he likened Floyd to the 1955 Mississippi lynching victim Emmett Till, except that this time there were cameras around to show the world what happened.
Floyd's six-year-old daughter Gianna was in attendance for the press conference as well, along with other members of the family.
'Say his name!' Floyd's relatives chanted as they gathered together. 'George Floyd!'
Another brother, Terrence Floyd, said today was important not just for their family but for America's history.
'I will miss him, but now I know he's in history,' Terrence said. 'What a day to be a Floyd, man.'
Those sentiments were echoed by former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle who said that the jury had done 'the right thing' in finding Chauvin guilty.
In a joint statement, they said: 'For almost a year, Floyd's death under the knee of a police officer has reverberated around the world — inspiring murals and marches, sparking conversations in living rooms and new legislation.
'But a more basic question has always remained: would justice be done?
'In this case, at least, we have our answer. But if we're being honest with ourselves, we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.'
The pair called for 'concrete reforms' in policing and for the elimination of racial bias from the nation's criminal justice system.
'Michelle and I send our prayers to the Floyd family, and we stand with all those who are committed to guaranteeing every American the full measure of justice that George and so many others have been denied,' he said.
British prime minister Boris Johnson also tweeted his response, writing: 'I was appalled by the death of George Floyd and welcome this verdict. My thoughts tonight are with George Floyd's family and friends.'
George Floyd's six-year-old daughter Gianna was in attendance for the Tuesday press conference, along with other members of the family
President Joe Biden phoned family members and lawyers for George Floyd and lawyer Benjamin Crump on Tuesday following the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case
Lawyer Benjamin Crump tweeted out the exchange which was broadcast live as he held out the phone on speaker mode so the family could listen to the president
Joe Biden delivers remarks from the White House following the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis. The president, flanked by his vice president, Kamala Harris, said the verdict 'can be a giant step forward' for the nation, but he declared that 'it's not enough.'
Vice president Kamala Harris speaks alongside Joe Biden following the verdict last night
In a joint statement released after the verdict was announced, they said: 'For almost a year, George Floyd's death under the knee of a police officer has reverberated around the world — inspiring murals and marches, sparking conversations in living rooms and new legislation.'
Brandon Williams, nephew of George Floyd, stands flanked by Reverend Al Sharpton (2nd L) and Attorney Ben Crump (R) during the press conference
'Today, we are able to breathe again,' one of Floyd's younger brothers, Philonise, said at the conference, just moments after the verdict was read. 'Justice for George means freedom for all'
Tears streamed down his face as he likened Floyd to the 1955 Mississippi lynching victim Emmett Till, except that this time there were cameras around to show the world what happened
Philonise is flanked by Rev Al Sharpton and attorney Ben Crump as he offers words
'I will miss him, but now I know he's in history,' Terrence Floyd said. 'What a day to be a Floyd, man'
Reverend Al Sharpton cries following the verdict in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis
Later in a televised address, Biden said that the conviction 'can be a giant step forward in the march towards justice in America.'
Vice president Harris said that 'a measure of justice isn't the same as equal justice.' She added: 'This verdict brings us a step closer and the fact is, we still have work to do. We still must reform the system.'
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 hundreds of exhibits entered in the course of the trial.
Non-essential courthouse staff were told to go home as Minneapolis battened down ahead of the verdict, with 3,000 National Guard members and 1,100 law enforcement officers keeping a watchful eye over the city that's been on edge for weeks awaiting the conclusion of the trial.
Tensions in the city had been raised further by the death of another black man, Duante Wright, 20, who was shot and killed last week a few miles from where Chauvin's trial was taking place. The officer in the shooting has been charged with manslaughter.
Moments after the Chauvin verdict was announced news of another police-involved killing of a black American emerged.
Fifteen-year-old Makhia Bryant was declared dead in Columbus, Ohio, at around 5.20pm after she was gunned down by cops while wielding a knife. Cops were reportedly called to the foster home where Makhia was staying after she got in an altercation with another resident there.
In the Chauvin case, Judge Peter Cahill is now expected to move immediately to sentencing and a so-called Blakely hearing after the state has filed a motion asking for sentences upwards of the state's presumptive guidelines.
According to those guidelines, both second and third degree murder charges carry a sentence of 12 years, with a discretionary range between 10 and 15, while second-degree manslaughter carries a sentence of four, with a discretionary range of three to five.
Chauvin waived his right for the matter to be heard by a jury so the judge alone will consider the aggravating factors brought by the state.
The prosecutors' motion claims that Floyd was particularly vulnerable as he was handcuffed, that he was treated with 'particular cruelty', that Chauvin had a position of authority, more than three people were involved and the crime was committed in front of children.
Several minors were among the bystanders that day – the youngest, nine-year-old Judeah, testified in court.
The specter of an appeal already looms with Judge Cahill himself admitting on Monday that Congresswoman Maxine Waters may have handed the defense 'something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned'.
He was referring to the California Democrat's words on the eve of closing statements when she called for protesters to 'get more confrontational' if the jury did not return a verdict of 'guilty, guilty, guilty'.
Chauvin was handcuffed and taken away to the cells on Tuesday after Judge Cahill revoked his bail, ahead of sentencing for the murder of George Floyd. He showed no emotion and was taken straight to the cells in Hennepin County Government Center, where the trial was held, for processing before his transfer to Oak Park Heights.
His attorneys will have to notify the trial court within 60 days if they plan to appeal. His lawyers then have months to review transcripts and court filings dating from the start of the case to build their arguments.
They are likely to try and overturn the verdict based on the location - which they argue was too tense to ensure a fair trial - and on the media coverage, plus the $27 million settlement awarded to the family before the trial began. Chauvin's defense tried to argue that it prejudiced the jury, saying it implied guilt.
Chauvin will be held at Oak Park Heights for the next eight weeks, until sentencing.
Warning signs should have flashed around Chauvin years before he murdered Floyd. A Minneapolis police veteran of 19 years, he acted more like a ruthless Wild West sheriff than a modern day lawman.
He once pulled a gun on some teenagers who shot a toy dart out of their car window. He was a bully who belittled a breast feeding new mother.
And, in chilling echoes of what was to come, he held his knee on a black woman suspect as she begged: 'Don't kill me.'
MINNEAPOLIS: Thousands gathered at George Floyd Square, the intersection where the fatal arrest took place in May last year
NEW YORK CITY: Women address crowds over loudhailers as crowds celebrated the guilty verdict hundreds of miles away
MINNEAPOLIS: People celebrate in the streets after the verdict came in on Tuesday afternoon
MINNEAPOLIS: Charles McMillan (L) and Genevieve Hansen, witnesses who testified in the trial, embrace in George Floyd Square after the verdict was read in the Derek Chauvin trial
NEW YORK CITY: Protesters kneel in the streets as they celebrate the verdict in Minneapolis
NEW YORK CITY: People take to the streets following the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial on April 20
NEW YORK CITY: Demonstrators took to the streets of New York to demonstrate after the verdict came in on Tuesday evening
NEW YORK CITY: A woman with a sign on her bike reading, 'Guilty, guilty, guilty,' after the verdicts were delivered on Tuesday
MINNEAPOLIS: People dancing in the streets in Minnesota after the guilty verdicts came in for Chauvin
MINNEAPOLIS: A carnival-like atmosphere took over the streets of the city last night as people celebrated justice in the Floyd case
Chauvin worked in one of the city's busiest divisions, the Third Precinct, and on its toughest shift.
His desire to work the 4pm to 2am beat gained him admiration from some colleagues but saw him rack up at least 22 complaints, four times the norm.
He earned two medals of valor, but other officers said just being around him made them feel uncomfortable.
They recalled how he would leave work in uniform with his trousers pulled up higher than most people wore them. His boots were always polished, as if he expected to be inspected by the chief any minute.
He didn't fit in with the other cops, rarely socializing and not drinking. One former colleague told The New York Times: 'In a group setting he would never connect and stood there like a small child.'
Chauvin grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of West St Paul. His parents divorced when he was seven and his father asked for a paternity test on his sister: it turned out he was not the father.
He moved in with his accountant dad and attended four different elementary schools in five years.
After working as a US military officer in Germany he joined the Minneapolis Police Force in 2000 aged 24.
On nights off he worked as a security guard at the city's El Nuevo Rodeo nightclub.
Maya Santamaria, the club's former owner, said that Chauvin was 'nice but he would overreact and lash out quickly', especially on nights popular with black and Latino people.
Chauvin was married to Kellie Xiong, 46, a former radiologist and beauty queen who won the Mrs Minnesota title in 2018
Also working there, although it seems they did not know each other, was George Floyd.
Chauvin's bad attitude was on display for those unfortunate enough to have come across him years before.
Zoya Code, who is black, claims that in 2017 Chauvin put his knee on her even though she was handcuffed. A terrified Code said that she pleaded: 'Don't kill me.'
She added: 'He just stayed on my neck.'
Frustrated and upset, she challenged him to press harder, and he did.
'Just to shut me up,' she said.
She told Chauvin's fellow officers: 'You're learning from an animal. That man – that's evilness right there.'
In 2013 he pulled his gun on four teenagers who shot a Nerf gun dart out of their car window.
Kristofer Bergh, then 17, said that after an hour during which the teenager who fired the dart was put in the police car, Chauvin let them all off with the warning: 'Most of you will be 18 by the end of the year. That means you'll be old enough for 'big boy jail'.'
Julian Hernandez claimed that Chauvin used excessive force when he arrested him at the El Nuevo Rodeo club in 2015.
He said: 'He tried to grab me from my neck, and, of course, I reacted. And then, after that, he choked me out on the ground.'
Chauvin was formally disciplined for pulling a young mother out of her car and ridiculing her when he saw wet patches on her chest from breastfeeding.
According to Melissa Borton, Chauvin, or his colleague, told her: 'You probably have postpartum depression, and you need help.'
Chauvin was married to Kellie Xiong, 46, a former radiologist and beauty queen who won the Mrs Minnesota title in 2018.
She once described her husband in a local newspaper interview as 'a softie'.
She said: 'He's such a gentleman. He still opens the door for me, still puts my coat on for me.'
Her view has now changed. She filed for divorce two days after Chauvin killed Floyd.
Chauvin's verdict came as a devastating blow to the three other officers charged in connection with Floyd's death - Thomas Lane, 38; J Alexander Kueng, 27; and Tou Thao, 35 - who are set to face trial on charges for aiding and abetting Chauvin's crimes in August.
NEW YORK: Spike Lee takes a photograph with children after the hearing the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Brooklyn, New York City
Women embrace after hearing Chauvin's guilty verdict on three charges for Floyd's death on Tuesday afternoon
A man rejoices outside Cup Foods after the jury found Chauvin guilty on Tuesday afternoon
People react to the Chauvin verdict outside the Hennepin County courthouse on Tuesday afternoon
People gathered outside Cup Foods cheer after the jury handed down its guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon
Over 15 days of testimony the jury of seven men and five women - six white, four black and two bi-racial - was guided through every facet over Floyd's death through the eyes of 45 witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence.
In his opening statement, trial attorney Jerry Blackwell told the jury that Chauvin had betrayed the badge he wore on his heart. He said the former officer had violated police policy and trampled the sanctity of human life.
For Blackwell it all boiled down to the nine minutes 29 seconds of Floyd's subdual restraint and neck compression. 'You can believe your eyes' he said, 'That it's a homicide, that it's a murder.'
Not so, according to defense attorney Eric Nelson, for whom the truth could only be viewed through a far wider lens.
For Nelson this was all about reason, doubt and common sense. Common sense would tell the jury that what they had seen with their own eyes was only one part of a much bigger picture.
He said: 'We have to examine the totality of the evidence. That's what this case is ultimately about, the evidence. It is nothing more than that.'
As Nelson sought to un-pick emotions from the scenes of Floyd's death and the testimony of a host of eyewitnesses brought by the state, a heavy fear of what might happen when the verdict came down gripped the city of Minneapolis.
The downtown area was shored up with boards nailed over the windows of businesses and the concrete blockades, steel fences and bails of barbed wire embracing the court and government buildings.
More than 3,000 members of the National Guard were called in to bolster the 1,100 public safety officers already in place – their armored vehicles parked not only at the government buildings but in store parking lots, intersections and sidewalks across the city.
The city was reported to have spent more than $1million on security in a four-stage plan dubbed Operation Safety Net, which kicked off with jury selection and entered its final stage with the verdict announcement.
The screw turned tighter with the April 11 shooting of Daunte Wright - the 20-year-old black man killed in a traffic stop by Brooklyn Center police barely ten miles from where Chauvin stood trial.
Night after night the protests raged and curfews were broken in an unending echo of the civil unrest that followed Floyd's death last May.
The verdict brings to an end a trial that has been riven with drama and threats of derailment that started before the jury was even empaneled - with the city's announcement of their $27million civil settlement with the Floyd family - and continued after closing statements' end.
Nelson made the last of his many bids for a mistrial on the back of statements from Rep Waters.
Judge Cahill called Waters' comments 'abhorrent' but denied Nelson's mistrial bid and his contention that the jury could no longer be considered 'untainted'.
Nelson had tried on many occasions to have the trial delayed and moved out of Hennepin County, but Judge Cahill would hear of neither. There was not a county in the state, he said, that had not heard of Chauvin and Floyd and no span of time would be great enough for the case to have been forgotten by any.
The judge also refused Nelson's repeated bids to have the jury sequestered ahead of deliberations. The defense attorney's most recent bid came on the heels of the police shooting of Wright.
People stand outside Cup Foods on Tuesday ahead of the jury announcement
People arrive for the verdict in Chauvin's trial outside the Hennepin County Courthouse on Tuesday
Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson (center) arrives at the Hennepin County courthouse on Tuesday to await the verdict
Protesters gathered in Minneapolis on Monday as the jury started their deliberations toward a verdict in Chauvin's case
Members of the National Guard and police officers stand guard in Minneapolis ahead of a Chauvin verdict
Hennepin County Government Center, where the Chauvin trial is being held, is protected with high fences and concrete
No comments: