A federal grand jury has found Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, guilty on all three counts of murder of African American George Floyd last year.
Floyd (46), was killed in a brutal abuse of police force on May 25 last year during an arrest after a store clerk alleged, he had passed a counterfeit USD 20 bill in Minneapolis
Chauvin has been remanded to the custody of Hennepin County. He was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections says Chauvin was booked into Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights just before 5 p.m., as part of an agreement with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a pool report, George Floyd’sbrother, Philonise Floyd, was praying in the courtroom before the verdict was read.
“I was just praying they would find him guilty,” he said after the conviction. “As an African American, we usually never get justice.”
In his closing argument, prosecutor Steve Schleicher urged jurors to focus on the video showing Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
“Believe your eyes,” Schleicher said. “Unreasonable force, pinning him to the ground — that’s what killed him. This was a homicide.”
Schleicher said Chauvin showed “indifference” to Floyd’s pleas for help and continued restraining the man even after he was unresponsive, ignoring the bystanders who were urging him to ease up.
