Death Penalty News

New charges have been announced against all of the sacked police officers present at the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis. The charge against Derek Chauvin has been elevated to second-degree murder, court documents show. The other three officers, previously uncharged, face counts of aiding and abetting murder. Floyd's death has sparked huge protests across the US against racism and the police killings of black Americans. The vast majority of demonstrations over the past eight days have been peaceful, but some have turned violent and curfews have been imposed in a number of cities. RELATED |  Minnesota | 3 more cops charged in George Floyd death, other officer’s murder charge upgraded Announcing the new charges, Minnesota's Attorney General Keith Ellison said that they were in the interests of justice. Derek Chauvin had initially faced charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. These will stay on his charge sh...

'Prosecutors have different schools of thoughts: some think it’s best to only pursue charges that are going stick. Others say throw the book at the defendant and see what holds. I have to say emphatically that, in the criminal justice system, we’re constantly throwing charges against people of color that might not stick, but with law enforcement officers we’re more careful about that' While Minneapolis chief of police Medaria Arradondo has been applauded for immediately firing the four officers involved in 46-year-old George Floyd’s death just over a week ago, questions about prosecutors’ choice to charge former officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder rather than a more serious charge continue to provoke outrage. UPDATE |  Minnesota | 3 more cops charged in George Floyd death, other officer’s murder charge upgraded The complaint filed by prosecutors for the state of Minnesota against Chauvin could shed some light on the reasoning for those lighter charges. I...

What we're seeing right now across the country is rightful outrage after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man on Monday.  Video footage of the scene taken by a bystander shows officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, with his knee on George’s neck, pinning him to the ground. George, handcuffed and subdued, can be heard pleading with Derek to remove his knee — repeatedly crying out “I can’t breathe,” until he becomes unresponsive.  George’s final words, “I can’t breathe,” were the same words we heard from Eric Garner, who died after police officers in New York City put him in a chokehold while arresting him in 2014. Eric was being arrested for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, which he denied doing. But he was never even given the chance to prove his innocence. The accusation levelled against George wasn’t selling cigarettes, but purchasing them with an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill. And like Eric Garner, George was shown no ...

MINNEAPOLIS: Authorities in the US city of Minneapolis and its sister city St Paul called in the National Guard on Thursday as they struggled to contain the fresh protests and violence due to the shocking police killing of a handcuffed African-American man. After stores were looted and burned overnight Wednesday in Minneapolis, officials in the so-called Twin Cities warned they would not tolerate violence while seeking to assure that investigations into George Floyd's death were underway. Hundreds of people began marching in Minneapolis in the late afternoon, while in St Paul, just to the east, police said there was ongoing looting. "We know there's a lot of anger. We know there's a lot of hurt," said St Paul Police Chief Todd Axtel. "But we can't tolerate people using this as an opportunity to commit crimes," he said. "We are not going to tolerate our buildings being burned down." At the request of both cities, M...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Murder.   Brutality . Reprehensible. Indefensible. Police nationwide, in unequivocal and unprecedented language, have condemned the actions of Minneapolis police in the custody death of a handcuffed black man who cried for help as an officer knelt on his neck, pinning him to the pavement for at least eight minutes. But some civil rights advocates say their denunciations are empty words without meaningful reform behind them. Authorities say George Floyd was detained Monday because he matched the description of someone who tried to pay with a counterfeit bill at a convenience store, and the 46-year-old resisted arrest. A bystander's disturbing video shows Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on Floyd's neck, even as Floyd begs for air and slowly stops talking and moving. “There is no need to see more video,” Chattanooga, Tennessee, Police Chief David Roddy tweeted Wednesday. “There no need to wait to see how ‘it plays out’. There is ...

✔ Click here to Google translate the following story into your own language La policía dice que George Floyd falleció debido a un “incidente médico”. Cuatro oficiales han sido apartados de su trabajo “Ser negro en Estados Unidos no debería ser una sentencia de muerte”, dijo este martes el alcalde de Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, con relación al fallecimiento de un afroamericano de 47 años en custodia policial.  Un vídeo compartido en las redes sociales muestra cómo un policía blanco, ante la indiferencia de su compañero, aprieta con su rodilla el cuello del detenido en plena calle durante aproximadamente siete minutos.  George Floyd, esposado y desarmado, reclama varias veces que no puede respirar, hasta quedar inconsciente . El Departamento de Policía de Minneapolis informó de que el detenido murió este lunes debido a un “incidente médico” y que los oficiales llegaron al sitio por un aviso de fraude.  Los cuatro agentes presentes durante el suceso fuer...