Jurors Reach Verdict in Chauvin Trial in Minneapolis
The jury said it has reached a verdict on its second day of deliberations in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder and manslaughter after kneeling on the neck of a dying…
The jury said it has reached a verdict on its second day of deliberations in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder and manslaughter after kneeling on the neck of a dying George Floyd during an arrest last May.
The verdict will be read aloud in court between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. local time (2030 GMT to 2100 GMT), the court said. The jury deliberated for four hours on Monday and resumed on Tuesday morning.
The 12 sequestered jurors have considered three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts, along with hours of video evidence in the most high-profile U.S. case involving accusations of police misconduct in decades.
Chauvin, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree “depraved mind” murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Jurors must reach a unanimous verdict on each charge to convict or acquit. A single hold-out would result in a mistrial, although the state could then try Chauvin again.
All three charges require that jurors find that Chauvin’s acts were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death, but none require that they find he intended to kill Floyd.
In an arrest captured on video, Chauvin pushed his knee into the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, for more than nine minutes outside the grocery store where Floyd had been accused of buying cigarettes with a fake $20 bill.
Floyd’s relatives, many of them traveling from Texas, have taken turns sitting in a single chair reserved for them in the courtroom.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Floyd’s family on Monday “to check in with them and also share that the family was in his prayers,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
With the jurors now sequestered, Biden told reporters at the White House that he was praying for the “right verdict” in the most high-profile U.S. case involving accusations of police misconduct in decades.