In what could prove to be a pivotal moment for accountability in policing across the United States, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts of the murder of George Floyd last May, an event which inspired the Black Lives Matter protests on the streets and around the world.

On Tuesday night, a collective sigh of relief greeted the unanimous decision. 

Chauvin, who was immediately taken into custody, was convicted on charges of second-degree unintentional murder; third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He faces lengthy terms in jail and will be sentenced in eight weeks. He is likely to appeal.

The prosecution’s case was overwhelming; calling more than 40 witnesses and ending with this memorable statement:

The dramatic, heartbreaking video evidence recorded by Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old eye-witness, was certainly difficult to watch, but without it the case may not even have been brought.

She later told her home-town newspaper that “The world needed to see what I was seeing.”

Another crucial moment in the trial was the testimony of a number of Minneapolis police officers and specifically Chief Medaria Arradondo, whose unprecedented account that Chauvin’s actions were “not part of our training, and certainly not part of our ethics or values” helped fracture the so-called Blue Wall of Silence – the idea that police officers don’t testify against each other.

The speed at which the verdict was reached – the jurors deliberated for less than 11 hours over two days – made it appear likely that a guilty verdict would be returned, and hundreds of people started to gather outside the courthouse and at the grocery store where the assault took place.

George Floyd’s family and supporters thanked the state’s lawyers and the local community for their support. His brother Philonise said: “People from all around the world have been calling me, DM’ing me, saying, ‘We won’t be able to breathe until you’re able to breathe.’ 

“Today, we are able to breathe again”.

President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris addressed the nation from the White House.

Biden called systemic racism “a stain on the nation’s soul” and said today’s verdict, while “all too rare” could be a turning point on Americas road to racial justice. “It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see,” he said.

“This can be a moment of significant change.”

With the urgency for reform now expected to intensify, Biden and Harris pledged to work to enact The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which has passed the House of Representatives twice, but has yet to proceed in the Senate.

Earlier, Biden had commented on the trial – after the jury had been sequestered – saying he was praying for “right verdict”, adding “It is overwhelming in my view.” It can only be imagined what situation America might be in tonight – regardless of the court’s ruling – if the 2020 presidential election had turned out differently.

Likewise, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was crucial to organizing the prosecution team to mount the case. He said: “I would not call today’s verdict justice, however, because justice implies true restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step toward justice.”

“The work of our generation is to put unaccountable law enforcement behind us … One conviction, even one like this one, can create powerful openings to shed old practices and reset relationships.”

Former President Barack Obama issued a statement, saying “if we’re being honest with ourselves, we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.”

The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson wrote that the verdict “shouldn’t feel like a victory, but it does.”

“After Floyd’s killing, millions of Americans of all races and ethnicities marched in demonstrations across the country to insist that Black lives do matter,” he writes. “Watching the magnitude of the protests, I had a sense that something fundamental might be changing — that a generalized reckoning with systemic racism might actually begin.”

Police departments in Minneapolis and across the US, as well as National Guard had been braced for the conclusion of the trial – local schools had moved to remote working for the week – but as the evening wore on, the mood moved from tension, to relief, to celebration.

Later this week, however, the family of Duante Wright will gather for his funeral. He was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop just ten miles from where today’s verdict was delivered. 

His story is one more chapter in America’s unceasing, tragic story.

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See Also:

‘None Of Us Can Be Silent’ (June 2020)

Also published on Medium.