MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck in a case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.
Chauvin, 45, was immediately led away with his hands cuffed behind his back and could be sent to prison for decades.
The verdict — guilty as charged on all counts, in a relatively swift, across-the-board victory for Floyd’s supporters — set off jubilation mixed with sorrow across the city and around the nation. Hundreds of people poured into the streets of Minneapolis, some running through traffic with banners. Drivers blared their horns in celebration.
“Today, we are able to breathe again,” Floyd’s younger brother Philonise said at a joyous family news conference where 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.
The jury of six whites and six Black or multiracial people came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days. The now-fired white officer was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Chauvin’s face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom. His bail was immediately revoked. Sentencing will be in two months; the most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.
Defense attorney Eric Nelson followed Chauvin out of the courtroom without comment.
President Joe Biden welcomed the verdict, saying Floyd’s death was “a murder in full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world” to see systemic racism.
But he warned: “It’s not enough. We can’t stop here. We’re going to deliver real change and reform. We can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this will ever happen again.”
The jury’s decision was hailed around the country as justice by other political and civic leaders and celebrities, including former President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a white man, who said on Twitter that Floyd “would still be alive if he looked like me. That must change.”
At a park next to the Minneapolis courthouse, a hush fell over a crowd of about 300 as they listened to the verdict on their cellphones. Then a great roar went up, with many people hugging, some shedding tears.
At the intersection where Floyd was pinned down, a crowd chanted, “One down, three to go!” — a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis officers facing trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death.
Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she felt grateful and relieved.
“I feel grounded. I can feel my feet on the concrete,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to the “next case with joy and optimism and strength.”
Jamee Haggard, who brought her biracial 4-year-old daughter to the intersection, said: “There’s some form of justice that’s coming.”
The verdict was read in a courthouse ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on edge against another round of unrest — not just because of the Chauvin case but because of the deadly police shooting of a young Black man, Daunte Wright, in a Minneapolis suburb April 11.
The jurors’ identities were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.
It is unusual for police officers to be prosecuted for killing someone on the job. And convictions are extraordinarily rare.
Out of the thousands of deadly police shootings in the U.S. since 2005, fewer than 140 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter, according to data maintained by Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. Before Tuesday, only seven were convicted of murder.
Juries often give police officers the benefit of the doubt when they claim they had to make split-second, life-or-death decisions. But that was not an argument Chauvin could easily make.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They put him on the ground instead.
The centerpiece of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breathe” and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was 9 1/2 minutes, including several minutes after Floyd’s breathing had stopped and he had no pulse.
Prosecutors played the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, and told the jury: “Believe your eyes.” From there it was shown over and over, analyzed one frame at a time by witnesses on both sides.
In the wake of Floyd’s death, demonstrations and scattered violence broke out in Minneapolis, around 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, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by police, revamped disciplinary systems or subjected police departments to closer oversight.
The “Blue Wall of Silence” that often protects police accused of wrongdoing crumbled after Floyd’s death. The Minneapolis police chief quickly called it “murder” and fired all four officers, and the city reached a staggering $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family as jury selection was underway.
Police-procedure experts and law enforcement veterans inside and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified for the prosecution that Chauvin used excessive force and went against his training.
Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died of asphyxia, or lack of oxygen, because his breathing was constricted by the way he was held down on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind him, a knee on his neck and his face jammed against the ground.
Chauvin’s attorney called a police use-of-force expert and a forensic pathologist to try to make the case that Chauvin acted reasonably against a struggling suspect and that Floyd died because 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.
Under the law, police have certain leeway to use force and are judged according to whether their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
The defense also tried to make the case that Chauvin and the other officers were hindered in their duties by what they perceived as a growing, hostile crowd.
Chauvin did not testify, and all that the jury or the public ever heard by way of an explanation from him came from a police body-camera video after an ambulance had taken the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Floyd away. Chauvin told a bystander: “We gotta control this guy ’cause he’s a sizable guy … and it looks like he’s probably on something.”
The prosecution’s case also included tearful testimony from onlookers who said the police kept them back when they protested what was happening.
Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier, who shot the crucial video, said Chauvin gave the bystanders a “cold” and “heartless” stare. She and others said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt from witnessing Floyd’s slow-motion death.
“It’s been nights I stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more, and not physically interacting 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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Find AP’s full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
Up to 1,000 members of the Massachusetts National Guard have been activated as a precaution in case of "large-scale" protests after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict.
Public safety officials said there is “no indication of any public safety risk in Massachusetts," but Gov. Charlie Baker has alerted the Guard to be ready.
"The (administration) has been working with our local, state, and federal partners to ensure public safety personnel can be on hand if the need arises," Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Secretary Thomas Turco said.
The Baker administration has enacted similar orders calling up the National Guard in the year since George Floyd’s death and as unrest has swept the nation in the wake of continued police killings, particularly of Black men.
None have required any Guard operations since June 1 following an eruption of violence in Boston over Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police.
EOPSS spokesman Jake Wark underscored that point saying the number of guardsmen put on standby “reflects the maximum number of personnel who would be available and not necessarily the number deployed.”
State Police Col. Christopher Mason said his force would operate with increased staffing levels in case troopers are called up to assist local police departments.
"We are coordinating with our partner agencies on a multi-layered, scalable plan to protect people's safety, property, and rights of assembly and free speech," Mason said.
State Police and Homeland Security are monitoring the situation.
In the courtroom, a subdued Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and led away Tuesday, while outside the landmark guilty verdict reverberated across the nation.
For many, the former Minneapolis police officer’s conviction for the murder of George Floyd appeared to signal the beginning of an overdue reckoning on race and policing in America’s justice system. The judgment reached by 12 jurors in Hennepin County also marked one of the few times an officer has been found guilty of murder in the United States.
The jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill ordered Chauvin be placed into custody, where he will remain until he is sentenced. Throughout the three-week trial, Chauvin exhibited little emotion and had minimal visible reaction Tuesday when Cahill read the verdicts. His face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask as his eyes darted around the courtroom.
Floyd’s younger brother Philonise Floyd hugged Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other prosecutors after the verdict was read.
‘FIRST STEP TOWARD JUSTICE’
Chauvin, 45, was charged in the May 25, 2020, arrest death of Floyd, 46. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd was handcuffed face-down on the ground, despite pleas from Floyd that he could not breathe. He and three other officers who struggled to arrest Floyd were quickly fired.
Floyd allegedly used a $20 counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods, a Minneapolis convenience store located at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Bystander cellphone video of the incident went viral, drawing national and international attention to the Twin Cities and setting off both peaceful protests and destructive civil unrest.
“I would not call today’s verdict justice, however, because justice implies true restoration, but it is accountability, which is the first step toward justice,” Ellison said at a news conference following the verdict.
Ellison called the trial a “landmark trial” and said Floyd’s death “sparked a worldwide movement.”
He urged those demonstrating to do so “calmly, legally and peacefully.”
Last year, prosecutors filed an intent to seek an aggravated sentence against Chauvin. Now it will be up to Cahill to determine if a longer prison sentence is appropriate.
Chauvin will only be sentenced for the highest charge, second-degree unintentional murder. Minnesota sentencing guidelines state that an individual with no criminal history should be sentenced to 12½ years for that charge.
Should an aggravated sentence be granted, Chauvin could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, said Ted Sampsell-Jones, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul.
Sentencing will come in about two months, though no date was set Tuesday.
‘TODAY, WE ARE ABLE TO BREATHE AGAIN’
Ben Crump, an attorney for the Floyd family, said in a statement that the verdict is "painfully earned justice” for the Floyd family and community.
“Today’s verdict goes far beyond this city and has significant implications for the country and even the world,” the statement read, in part. “This case is a turning point in American history for accountability of law enforcement and sends a clear message we hope is heard clearly in every city and every state.”
Philonise Floyd said at a news conference following the verdict that it was difficult to watch video of his brother’s death be played repeatedly in court.
“People all around the world … calling me, DM’ing me, saying, ‘We won’t be able to breathe until you’re able to breathe.’ Today, we are able to breathe again,” he said.
The city of Minneapolis reached a staggering $27 million settlement with Floyd's family as jury selection was underway.
‘WATERSHED MOMENT’
Residents of the Twin Cities — as well as the nation — had awaited the verdict in the case, which has forced a reckoning on issues of race and policing.
Joseph Daly, emeritus professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said this case is a “watershed” moment that should impact police reform.
“Everybody will remember where they were and what they were doing when this verdict was announced,” Daly said.
Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all three counts in the killing of George Floyd.
Extra security, including police and National Guard, are deployed around the Twin Cities to guard against potential unrest. Demonstrations have been peaceful and the crowd outside the courtroom in downtown Minneapolis expressed relief with the verdict.
Adding to tensions, 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was Black, was shot and killed on April 11 by a white Brooklyn Center police officer, sparking more protests and arrests.
Ellison also included Wright’s name in a list of Black people killed by police under circumstances that ranged from questionable to criminal.
“This has to end,” he said.
PROSECUTORS ASKED JURORS TO ‘BELIEVE YOUR EYES’
Testimony in Chauvin’s trial began on March 29, and the trial concluded Monday with closing arguments. The jury deliberated for about four hours Monday and began Tuesday at 8 a.m. At approximately 2:30 p.m., they reached a verdict, which was read at 4 p.m.
The 12-member jury included seven women and five men. Six are white and six are Black or multiracial. Their ages range from their 20s to their 60s.
The jurors' identities were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.
Prosecutors argued that Chauvin’s knee prevented Floyd from breathing properly, which led Floyd to die of asphyxia. Prosecutors said Chauvin’s use of force was unauthorized and deadly, and told the jury to “believe your eyes” while watching video of the incident.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked the jury Monday to find Chauvin guilty on all three counts because there is "no excuse for the kind of abuse you saw with your own eyes," in reference to Darnella Frazier's bystander video.
Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told the jury during his rebuttal Monday that the defense has argued Floyd died because his heart was "too big" due to high blood pressure.
"The truth of the matter is, the reason George Floyd is dead, is because Mr. Chauvin's heart is too small," Blackwell said, ending his rebuttal.
Chauvin did not testify, and all that the jury or the public ever heard by way of an explanation from him came from a police body-camera video after an ambulance had taken the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Floyd away. Chauvin told a bystander: "We gotta control this guy 'cause he's a sizable guy … and it looks like he's probably on something."
The prosecution's case also included tearful testimony from onlookers who said the police kept them back when they protested what was happening.
In his closing argument, Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, said that Chauvin followed Minneapolis police policy and training when he restrained Floyd. Nelson also said Floyd’s underlying health conditions and recent drug use played a role in his death and that Chauvin was distracted by the angry bystanders.
Nelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the verdict.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections said Tuesday night that Chauvin was at the state's maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights, due to an arrangement with the county sheriff and the Department of Corrections. That's the same prison where Chauvin was moved after his arrest for security reasons.
‘NO ONE WANTS TO GO THROUGH THIS TRIAL AGAIN’
Gov. Tim Walz, who had avoided discussing his hoped-for outcome, said after the verdict that he was pleased with the jury’s decision.
"Today's verdict is an important step forward for justice in Minnesota. The trial is over, but our work has only begun,” Walz said in a statement, adding: "No verdict can bring George back, and my heart is with his family as they continue to grieve his loss. Minnesota mourns with you, and we promise the pursuit of justice for George does not end today."
In a post Tuesday on Facebook, the 18-year-old Frazier, whose video of Floyd’s arrest went viral and sparked outrage, wrote:
“I just cried so hard. This last hour my heart was beating so fast, I was so anxious, anxiety bussing through the roof. But to know GUILTY ON ALL 3 CHARGES !!! THANK YOU GOD THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU George Floyd we did it!!”
The three other former Minneapolis officers charged in Floyd's death, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, will face a separate trial that is currently scheduled to begin on Aug. 23.
Daly said the verdict in Chauvin’s case makes a conviction more likely for the other three former officers, and said their defense attorneys may ask for plea deals.
“No one wants to go through this trial again,” Daly said.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday that a federal civil rights investigation into Floyd’s death remains ongoing.
Mara H. Gottfried and Dave Orrick contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press.
Acting Mayor Kim Janey slammed the “lack of leadership” that kept Patrick Rose on the force even after the Boston Police Department’s own investigators substantiated allegations of child molestations against him, as detailed in newly released documents from the 1990s that show Rose losing his gun but keeping his job.
“Based on a review of former officer Rose's internal affairs file conducted by the City's Law Department, it is clear that previous leaders of the police department neglected their duty to protect and serve,” Janey’s office said. “Despite an internal affairs investigation in 1996 that found credible evidence to sustain the allegation against Rose for sexually assaulting a minor, it appears that the police department made no attempt to fire him.”
The files from 1995 show that officers fielded a complaint of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14 against Rose, leading the police to file criminal charges and launch an internal affairs investigations.
The probe continued even after a corresponding criminal case ended because the child did not want to speak further and Rose invoked his 5th Amendment right not to talk to the BPD’s IA investigators.
In June 1996, the complaint was classified as “sustained,” meaning investigators found evidence to support the allegations — and the IA officers sent the finding to then-Commissioner Paul Evans. The department kept Rose on the force but relegated him to administrative desk duty, the documents show, and they took away his gun.
But in October 1997, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association sent a letter to the BPD brass threatening a grievance over the restrictions on Rose’s ability to receive some types of overtime pay. The letter asks for the reason why Rose was sent to desk duty.
The letter was dated Oct. 20, 1997 — and, two days later, Evans sent Superintendent Ann Marie Doherty a note that read, “Please see me on this.” Chronologically, that’s the last of the documents the city released.
Sometime after that, the force restored Rose to normal duty — and, 17 years later, he’d come to lead the BPPA himself, in 2014 ousting the powerful Tommy Nee, the man who’d led the union when it sent the 1997 letter.
The new Corporation Counsel Henry Luthin — the city’s main in-house lawyer — said in a letter that the administration can’t release “much of” the details of the investigation, as it’s about sexual assault claims.
Boston, MA – 9/6/2016 – Union President of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association Patrick M. Rose holds up a memo that he circulated in June of 2016 as he testifies during the body camera hearing at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, MA, September 6, 2016. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)POOL
Janey declared, “This culture of secrecy cannot be tolerated,” and vowed that her newly appointed head of the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency will review the BPD’s internal affairs policies in the next 45 days.
Rose currently is behind bars on 33 counts stemming from allegations from six people. He maintains his innocence as the cases move forward.
Moments before the jury announced it had reached a verdict in the trial against former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, Gov. Charlie Baker said the state was ready to support cities and towns in case of demonstrations.
“We’ve had lots of conversations over the course of the past several days with our colleagues about this,” Baker said, speaking in Ashburton Park outside the State House on Tuesday. “We’ll continue to monitor of channels that we historically monitor around this stuff.”
Baker did not say specifically if he expected unrest.
“Massachusetts had one bad day all the way through all the activity of last summer — literally tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people peacefully demonstrating here in Massachusetts,” he said.
A day of peaceful protests last May 31 where protesters demanded justice for Floyd’s death and that of others at the hands of police, turned into a night of violence with riots, looting and vandalism. The National Guard was called in during the early morning hours of June 1 to shut down protesters.
Boston’s new mayor — the city’s first woman and first Black person to lead the majority-minority city — on Tuesday said she was working with law enforcement in preparation for possible demonstrations in the wake of the Chauvin verdict.
“It’s important that we recognize that this is traumatizing for many of us that have seen this over and over and over again,” Janey said, noting she was also working to deploy the city’s trauma team.
Janey encouraged activists to “stay engaged… regardless of the verdict.”
“Even if justice is served in this case it does not mean that the work is over. It is important that we continue to move forward with the racial justice agenda,” Janey said, ticking off the names of Duante Wright and Adam Toledo — two young men of color killed in recent days by police.
As the past year of protests unfolded, it became common practice in Massachusetts for Baker to put the National Guard on standby around times of planned protests. He did not address questions of whether he would do so again or if demonstrations were expected with the Chauvin verdict.
“We’re obviously going to keep talking to our colleagues in local government and if we need to do some things at their request to make sure everybody stays calm and peaceful, we’ll do that,” Baker said. “But I’m incredibly proud of the way the state has dealt with these issues.”
Baker touted his collaboration with the Legislature last session to pass bipartisan police reform legislation, noting Massachusetts is “one of the few states to have actually” done so.
MINNEAPOLIS — A timeline of key events that began with George Floyd’s arrest on May 25, 2020, by four police officers in Minneapolis:
May 25 — Minneapolis police officers respond to a call shortly after 8 p.m. about a possible counterfeit $20 bill being used at a corner grocery and encounter a Black man, later identified as George Floyd, who struggles and ends up handcuffed and face down on the ground. Officer Derek Chauvin uses his knee to pin Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes while bystanders shout at him to stop. Bystander video shows Floyd crying “I can’t breathe” multiple times before going limp. He’s pronounced dead at a hospital.
May 26 — Police issue a statement saying Floyd died after a “medical incident,” and that he physically resisted and appeared to be in medical distress. Minutes later, bystander video is posted online. Police release another statement saying the FBI will help investigate. Chauvin and three other officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — are fired. Protests begin.
May 27 — Mayor Jacob Frey calls for criminal charges against Chauvin. Protests lead to unrest in Minneapolis, with some people looting and starting fires. Protests spread to other cities.
May 28 — Gov. Tim Walz activates the Minnesota National Guard. Police abandon the 3rd Precinct station as protesters overtake it and set it on fire.
May 29 — Chauvin is arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. President Donald Trump tweets about “thugs” in Minneapolis protests and warns: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Protests turn violent again in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
May 30 — Trump tries to walk back his tweet. Protests continue nationwide and some turn violent.
May 31 — Walz says Attorney General Keith Ellison will lead prosecutions in Floyd’s death. The nationwide protests continue.
June 1 — The county medical examiner finds that Floyd’s heart stopped as police restrained him and compressed his neck, noting Floyd had underlying health issues and listing fentanyl and methamphetamine use as “other significant conditions.”
June 2 — Minnesota’s Department of Human Rights launches a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.
June 3 — Ellison files a tougher second-degree murder charge against Chauvin and charges the other three officers who were involved in Floyd’s arrest.
June 4 — A funeral service for Floyd is held in Minneapolis.
June 5 — Minneapolis bans chokeholds by police, the first of many changes to be announced in coming months, including an overhaul of the police department’s use-of-force policy.
June 6 — Massive, peaceful protests happen nationwide to demand police reform. Services are held for Floyd in Raeford, North Carolina, near his birthplace.
June 7 — A majority of Minneapolis City Council members say they support dismantling the police department. The idea later stalls but sparks a national debate over police reform.
June 8 — Thousands pay their respects to Floyd in Houston, where he grew up. He’s buried the next day.
June 10 — Floyd’s brother testifies before the House Judiciary Committee for police accountability.
June 16 — Trump signs an executive order to encourage better police practices and establish a database to track officers with excessive use-of-force complaints.
July 15 — Floyd’s family sues Minneapolis and the four former officers.
July 21 — The Minnesota Legislature passes a broad slate of police accountability measures that includes bans on neck restraints, chokeholds and so-called warrior-style training.
Oct. 7 — Chauvin posts $1 million bond and is released from state prison, sparking more protests.
Nov. 5 — Judge Peter Cahill rejects defense requests to move the officers’ trials.
Jan. 12 — Cahill rules Chauvin will be tried alone due to courtroom capacity issues. The other officers will be tried in August.
Feb. 12 — City leaders say George Floyd Square, the intersection blocked by barricades since Floyd’s death, will reopen to traffic after Chauvin’s trial.
March 9 — The first potential jurors are questioned for Chauvin’s trial after a day’s delay for pretrial motions.
March 12 — Minneapolis agrees to pay $27 million settlement to Floyd family.
March 19 — Judge declines to delay or move the trial over concerns that the settlement could taint the jury pool.
March 23 — Jury selection completed with 12 jurors and three alternates.
March 29 — Opening statements are given.
April 11 — Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, is fatally shot by a white police officer during a traffic stop in suburban Brooklyn Center, sparking successive days of protest.
April 12 — Judge declines request to sequester Chauvin jury immediately due to Wright shooting.
April 15 — Testimony ends.
April 19 — Closing arguments begin. Jury begins deliberations.
April 20 – Jury reaches verdict. ___ Find AP’s full coverage of the death of George Floyd: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
The jury in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has reached a verdict. The verdict will be read sometime between 3:30 and 4 p.m. once the jury returns to the courtroom.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest outside the Cup Foods corner store at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. Floyd was arrested after he allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes from the convenience store. The incident, captured on cellphone video, has drawn international attention.
Residents of the Twin Cities — as well as the nation — await the verdict in the landmark case, which has forced a reckoning on issues of race and policing.
To prove second-degree murder, the prosecution has to prove Chauvin committed an underlying felony, in this case third-degree assault, which was a substantial factor in Floyd's death.
For third-degree murder, the prosecution must prove Chauvin acted recklessly, causing the death of Floyd by "perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life," according to the Minnesota statute.
The second-degree manslaughter charge requires the prosecution to show Chauvin was negligent, creating "an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm," the Minnesota statute says.
Each count carries a separate maximum sentence: 40 years for second-degree unintentional murder, 25 years for third-degree murder, and 10 years for second-degree manslaughter. But under Minnesota sentencing guidelines, for a person with no criminal history, each murder charge carries a presumptive sentence of 12 and a half years in prison, while manslaughter has a presumptive sentence of four years.
If Chauvin is convicted of multiple charges, he will only be sentenced for the highest charge.
Meanwhile, the state has motioned to seek an aggravated sentence against Chauvin. Chauvin waived his right for the jury to determine if there are aggravating factors if he is convicted, and instead asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill to decide if these factors exist. One example of an aggravating factor is if minors witnessed the crime.
If Chauvin is convicted, Cahill could have him arrested immediately and taken into custody pending his sentencing. Chauvin has been released on bond since last October.
The third-degree murder charge carries some risk, legal experts say. Mohamed Noor, another former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter for the death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
If Noor's conviction is overturned and Chauvin in convicted of third-degree murder, Chauvin's conviction could also be overturned for that charge, legal experts say.
The three other former Minneapolis officers charged in Floyd's death, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, will face a separate trial that is currently scheduled to begin on Aug. 23.
A former Waltham nursing home employee was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from an elderly resident, Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday.
Christina Polcari, the former admissions director at the Meadow Green Nursing Home, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to five counts of forgery and one count each of larceny over $1,200 from a person over 60 years old and embezzlement by fiduciary.
Polcari, 54, of Belmont, faced a maximum of 30 years in prison if she was convicted of all three charges and sentenced consecutively.
But Judge Paul Wilson sentenced her to three years of probation, with the conditions that she have no contact with the victim, witnesses and the Meadow Green facility and staff; refrain from non-familial fiduciary and power of attorney duties; refrain from any licensed social work; refrain from employment in which direct compensation is derived from MassHealth or Medicaid; and refrain from non-familial fiduciary work with disabled people or anyone over 60 years old. Wilson also ordered her to pay $76,000 in restitution to the victim and a $5,000 fine.
In addition to restitution, Healey’s office had recommended a sentence of five years of probation, with house arrest for eight months except for work and medical purposes, and a $20,000 fine, a spokeswoman said.
The AG’s office originally asked for 2 1/2 years in jail, with 18 months to serve and the same probation conditions as the judge’s, the AG’s office said, but prosecutors took the victim's health and safety into consideration to avoid having to take the pre-trial deposition of the victim at the nursing home.
From August 2018 to May 2019, Polcari engaged in a scheme in which she misappropriated more than $230,000 of the elderly resident's money and spent it on personal expenses, including restaurants, repairs to her home and vacations for her and her family, according to prosecutors.
Polcari used a forged signature for promissory notes, letters and checks to try to perpetuate the scheme and cover up the theft, Healey said.
Polcari left her position at Meadow Green in May 2019, when nursing home officials became aware of the scheme, the AG’s Office said. She repaid about $154,000 of the money to the victim before she left, Healey said.
WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A gunman shot three workers inside a manager’s office at a Long Island grocery store Tuesday, killing one of them, police said.
A manhunt was underway for the gunman, who had also worked at the store, said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.
The shooting happened around 11 a.m. inside an office upstairs from the shopping floor at the Stop & Shop in West Hempstead, Ryder said. There were about a “couple hundred” shoppers inside the store at the time.
The name of the victims have not been made public. The man who was killed was a 49-year-old store employee, Ryder said. The two wounded were hospitalized and were conscious and alert. Police identified the suspected gunman as Gabriel DeWitt Wilson and gave a date of birth for him indicating he is 31 years old. It was unclear whether he was still employed by the store, Ryder said.
Wilson was wearing all black and carrying a small handgun as he fled westbound on Hempstead Turnpike, Ryder told reporters at a news conference in a nearby parking lot.
Video of the aftermath of the shooting showed police cars and ambulances parked in front of the store, officers with long guns and yellow crime scene tape draped across the entrance. Curran said nearby schools have been told not to admit visitors and residents were asked to remain indoors.
West Hempstead is near the New York City-Nassau County border and about 30 miles east of midtown Manhattan.
Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid said in a statement that the company is “shocked and heartbroken by this act of violence” and that the West Hempstead store will remain closed until further notice.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, our associates, customers and the first responders who have responded heroically to this tragic situation,” Reid said. Stop & Shop is a grocery chain in the northeastern U.S. owned by the Dutch company Ahold Delhaize.
Another ride-hail service driver has been arrested in Boston, about a month after a different driver was accused of kidnapping a passenger in the city.
Boston Police on Tuesday said that 25-year-old ride-hailing service driver Sonpreet Singh turned himself in and was arrested on a warrant for indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.
Last Wednesday, an alleged victim entered BPD’s District 14 in Brighton to report that she was indecently assaulted by a ride-hail driver.
Detectives from the Sexual Assault Unit conducted an investigation and were able to identify the driver as Singh and obtain a warrant for the Somerville man.
That incident sparked renewed calls for fingerprint background checks for drivers. A ride-hail bill at the State House would require the Bay State to conduct fingerprint background checks of the state and national criminal history databases.
In recent years, there has been a series of alleged sexual assaults committed by drivers for ride-hailing services in Boston.
In 2016, a driver using a false name was accused of sexually assaulting a female passenger. In 2018, an Uber driver was arrested after he allegedly raped a passenger who had been out celebrating her birthday.
Then in 2019, a ride-hailing service driver allegedly raped a woman in his vehicle on the Esplanade — along Storrow Drive near the Hatch Memorial Shell.
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