Death Penalty News

MINNEAPOLIS — The jury has found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May. Chauvin, 45, was found guilty of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The judge asked each juror if the verdict was correct, thanked them and dismissed them. "I have to thank you, on behalf of the people of the state of Minnesota, for not only jury service, but heavy-duty jury service," Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill said. He revoked bail and told Chauvin to report back in eight weeks for sentencing.  Chauvin, silent and wearing a gray suit and a light blue surgical mask, was handcuffed and taken into custody. George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd was sitting with his head bowed and his hands folded in front of his face in prayer before the verdict was read.  As each verdict was read, his hands increasingly shook and his head nodded up and down. "I was just praying they would find him guilty. As an African...

The murder and manslaughter case against Derek Chauvin is now with the jury for deliberations. After nearly six hours of closing arguments and rebuttal Monday, two alternates were dismissed and the remaining jurors — seven women and five men — were led away by a deputy for deliberations on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against the former Minneapolis police officer in connection with the death of George Floyd on May 25. Monday's deliberations ended at 8 p.m. without verdicts on any of the counts, and will resume Tuesday morning. Once the jury left the courtroom for the day, defense attorney Eric Nelson called for a mistrial, citing immense media exposure, particularly a comment by Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters over the weekend in which the California Democrat said while in the Twin Cities that protesters should get "more confrontational" if there is no guilty verdict. "I'll give you that Cong...

MINNEAPOLIS — Attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd are set to make their closing arguments Monday, each side seeking to distill three weeks of testimony to persuade jurors to deliver their view of the right verdict. For prosecutors , Derek Chauvin recklessly squeezed the life from Floyd as he and two other officers pinned him to the street for 9 minutes and 29 seconds outside a corner market, despite Floyd's repeated cries that he couldn't breathe — actions they say warrant conviction not just for manslaughter but also on two murder counts. For the defense , Floyd, who was Black, put himself at risk by swallowing fentanyl and methamphetamine, then resisted officers trying to arrest him — factors that compounded his vulnerability to a diseased heart and raise sufficient doubt that Chauvin, who is white, should be acquitted. Each side will pull key testimony to support their narrative for what killed Floyd in a case t...

The case against Mr. Chauvin moves into a new phase, with medical testimony addressing the cause of George Floyd’s death — the most contested issue of the trial. Dr. Martin J. Tobin, a world renowned expert on breathing, was a key witness for the prosecution Thursday when he testified that George Floyd “died from a low level of oxygen and this caused damage to his brain that we see and it also caused a P.E.A. arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop.” The testimony was an attempt to discredit defense arguments that Mr. Floyd’s drug use contributed to his death. Using video from the arrest, Dr. Tobin described how Derek Chauvin’s knees on Mr. Floyd’s neck and side and his hold on Mr. Floyd’s arms prevented Mr. Floyd from being able to breathe. He also added, “He’s jammed down against the street, and so the street is playing a major role in preventing him from expanding his chest.” He also showed two photos of Mr. Floyd’s finger and knuckles digging into the street and the police car’s t...

The chief spelled out department policies and then said the officer he fired violated many provisions.  Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified Monday in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin that the now-fired officer defied his own training and the department's mission of compassion when he kept his knee on the neck of George Floyd for more than 9 minutes last spring. "Once Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting — and certainly once he was in distress and trying to verbalize that — that should have stopped," the chief said after spelling out department policy on when to use force vs. calming a situation through de-escalation tactics. "There's an initial reasonableness of trying to just get him under control in the first few seconds," the chief continued, "but once there was no longer any resistance, and clearly when Mr. Floyd was no longer responsive and even motionless, to continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed beh...