Derek Chauvin Guilty Of All Charges in George Floyd's Murder

Former Minneapolis officer, Derek Chauvin, was declared guilty on three charges for the death of George Floyd. The case sparked outrage and protests against police brutality and racial injustice.

Derek Chauvin and three other police officers arrested George Floyd on May 25, 2020, after he allegedly passed a counterfeit $20 bill at a store. While Floyd was handcuffed and on the ground, Chauvin kneeled on his neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

Floyd died from asphyxia, and the whole encounter was recorded in a video that soon went viral and sparked social unrest in the country as people raised their voices against racial injustice.

Eleven months after the murder, the jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis.

Chauvin, wearing a grey suit and a blue facemask, looked unaffected as the judge read the verdict. He also had bail revoked and was taken in handcuffs after the judge stated he would be sentenced in 8 weeks.

Chauvin could face up to 70 years in prison. The maximum sentence for the second-degree murder charge is 40 years, while the counts for third-degree murder and manslaughter are 25 and 10 years, respectively.

Outside the court, protestors erupted in celebration after hearing the verdict. Benjamin Crump, Floyd’s family’s lawyer, took to Twitter to share a video of the family receiving a call from president Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris after hearing the verdict.

“Painfully earned justice has finally arrived for George Floyd’s family,” Crump wrote on Twitter, describing the verdict as “a turning point in history.”