MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, the explosive case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S. The jury deliberated about 10 hours over two days in a city on edge against another outbreak of unrest.
Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a white officer, pinned his knee on or close to the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes.
More than 3,000 National Guard soldiers, along with police officers, sheriffs deputies and other law enforcement personnel have flooded Minneapolis in the wake of a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with murder in the death last year of George Floyd.
The jury on Tuesday found Chauvin guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. But in the city that has come to epitomize America’s debate over police killings, there remain places where Minneapolis can feel almost like a police state. Concrete barriers, chain-link fences and barbed wire now ring parts of downtown Minneapolis, so that authorities can quickly close off the courthouse if trouble breaks out.