On Tuesday (April 20), the jury in Minnesota’s Hennepin County District Court returned its verdict in the Derek Chauvin criminal case: Guilty on all three counts (second degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter)! They did so after only about six hours of deliberation.
In the courtroom, Chauvin’s bail immediately was revoked, and he was handcuffed and taken for his safety to administrative segregation (solitary confinement) at Oak Park Heights Prison until sentencing in June.
This verdict was hailed by individuals and groups around the U.S., including President Biden and former President Barack Obama.
Further details are provided in many newspaper articles., some of which are listed below.{1}
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[1] Forliti, Karnowski & Webber (AP), Jury’s swift verdict for Chauvin in Floyd death: Guilty, StarTribune (April 21, 2021); https://www.startribune.com/jurys-swift-verdict-for-chauvin-in-floyd-death-guilty/600048350; Xiong & Walsh, Derek Chauvin, convicted of murdering George Floyd in Minneapolis, is led away in handcuffs, StarTribune (April 21, 2021), https://www.startribune.com/derek-chauvin-convicted-of-murdering-george-floyd-in-minneapolis-is-led-away-in-handcuffs/600048324; Arango, Dewan, Eligon & Bogel-Burroughs, Derek Chauvin is found guilty of murdering George Floyd, N.Y. Times (April 20, 2021); https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/chauvin-guilty-murder-george-floyd.html?searchResultPosition=7; Walsh, Derek Chauvin is segregated from other inmates in state’s ‘most secure unit,’ StarTribune (April 21, 2021). https://www.startribune.com/derek-chauvin-is-segregated-from-other-inmates-in-state-s-most-secure-unit/600048467/. The elements of these three crimes are set forth in the court’s instructions to the jury. (Derek Chauvin Trial: Week Seven (Jury Instructions), dwkcommentaries.com (April 20, 2021), https://dwkcommentaries.com/2021/04/20/derek-chauvin-trial-week-seven-submission-to-jury.
Comment: Alternate Juror Favored Conviction of Chauvin
Lisa Christiansen and another person as two of 14 jurors in the Derek Chauvin trial sat through three weeks of testimony and lawyers’ arguments before being excused as alternates and before the remaining 12 jurors deliberations that ended in a verdict of guilty on all three counts.
On April 22, Ms. Christiansen went public with her declaration that she favored conviction as well. Very important for her was the testimony of Dr. Martin J. Tobin, an expert for the prosecution. who “gave a detailed explanation of how humans breathe, even instructing the jurors to feel different parts of their throat and neck as he testified. He also analyzed Mr. Floyd’s breathing from a video that showed Mr. Chauvin kneeling on his neck.”
Dr. Tobin also “pointed out exactly when Mr. Floyd took his last breath. So that was powerful. And then I feel like all the doctors that the prosecutors presented pretty much said the same thing in so many different ways. I feel like they all came to the same conclusion.”
Christiansen also said “testimony from bystanders helped her to understand how out of line Mr. Chauvin was. Sitting close to the witness box, she teared up at times when witnesses cried as they recalled seeing the life slowly pressed out of Mr. Floyd. One moment in particular that got to her, Ms. Christensen said, was when a girl on the stand fought back tears, but her chin quivered.”
“How can all these different people stand on the sidewalk and notice there is something wrong in this situation — I mean, even a 9-year-old could tell you something was wrong,” she said. “How come grown officers, that this is your profession, you’ve had multiple hours of being trained, that you guys can’t tell there’s something wrong?”
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Xiong, Chauvin trial was life-changing, says alternate juror, StarTribune (April 23, 2021),
https://www.startribune.com/chauvin-trial-was-life-changing-says-alternate-juror/600049142/
Glass, ‘He was guilty.’ Extra juror in favor of conviction, Wash. Post (April 22, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/he-was-guilty-extra-juror-in-favor-of-chauvin-conviction/2021/04/22/90be3bb2-a369-11eb-b314-2e993bd83e31_story.html