derek chauvin trial
Derek Chavin at the conclusion of his trial
Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all counts - second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter - in the death of George Floyd.

The jury returned its verdict on Tuesday afternoon after just 10 and a half hours of deliberation.

As the verdict was read out Chauvin looked on with no visible emotion in the Hennepin County courtroom, where jurors spent three weeks listening to testimony about the day Floyd died - under the weight of the 45-year-old officer's knee - during an arrest on May 25, 2020.

Judge Peter Cahill thanked the jury on behalf of the state of Minnesota for not only jury service but 'heavy duty jury service'.

The state moved immediately to have Chauvin's bail revoked pending sentencing, which will happen in eight weeks. Judge Cahill did so and Chauvin was remanded into custody, and taken from the courtroom in handcuffs. On Tuesday night he was transferred to Oak Park Heights, Minnesota's only maximum security prison.

Chauvin faces a minimum sentence of 12.5 years and maximum of 40 years if he serves terms for each charge concurrently.

If served consecutively, he faces between 29 and 75 years.

Cheers rose from the crowds that had gathered outside the courthouse and down at the intersection of 38th and Chicago, now known as George Floyd Square.

Cup Foods, the store in which Floyd was last seen alive, shuttered its doors ahead of the decision.
george floyd square
President Joe Biden told the nation on Tuesday that the verdict sends the message that no one is 'above the law', as he demanded new action to honor Floyd after a killing he called a 'stain on the nation's soul.'


Comment: No, it reinforces the message of Biden's 'presidency' that some are above the law.


'No one should be above the law. And today's verdict sends that message. But it's not enough. It can't stop here,' Biden said.

Floyd's younger brother Philonise, 39, who took a knee at the courthouse steps at the start of the trial, was in court to hear the verdict read. He hugged Attorney General Keith Ellison and trial attorney Jerry Blackwell, whose voice was the first and last heard by the jury as he delivered both the state's opening statement and their final rebuttal.

The jury sent their notice that a verdict had been reached at 2.30pm local time as Minneapolis and the country braced for potential violence stemming from the decision.

Jurors had not sent back any questions to the judge or asked to review any of the hundreds of exhibits entered in the course of the trial.

Non-essential courthouse staff were told to go home as Minneapolis battened down ahead of the verdict, with 3,000 National Guard members and 1,100 law enforcement officers keeping a watchful eye over the city that's been on edge for weeks awaiting the conclusion of the trial.


Comment: There was never any chance of Chauvin and his colleagues getting a fair trial in that city. Nor of jurors in that city not facing harassment (or worse) if they returned anything but the verdict the mob (and the government) demanded. Even then, it's 'not enough'...


'This is not justice': Democrats Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez react to guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin trial and seek further steps in racial equality

Members of the so-called progressive 'squad' of House Democrats reacted to the Derek Chauvin guilty verdicts on Tuesday by calling for further actions toward racial equality and claiming 'this is not justice.'

Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, gave a press conference with fellow members of the Black Caucus following the Chauvin verdict in which she simply called it a 'step' to further racial equality.

'This verdict is a step. It's a popping of the lock to be able to get to the place where we can open the door and really start to do the work to save lives,' Bush said.

'And so, this egregious murder that happened, we can call it murder now, this egregious murder that happened it should not be that it has to look like that in order for us to have some type of semblance of what people call justice.'

Bush continued: 'This was accountability, but it is not yet justice. Justice for us, it's saving lives.'

Ayanna Pressley was filmed in a pink blazer crying as she hugged Bush after the two heard the announcement of the verdict.

'The moment we heard the verdict, we held each other. This feeling is not easy. But all of us will carry each other through this,' Bush tweeted.

Pressley tweeted: 'Black men, I love you, and you deserve to grow old.'

Ilhan Omar, whose district covers Minneapolis, said that the verdicts felt 'different for our community' and that 'justice feels new and long overdue.'

'Rejoice, my beloved community. Grateful to @AGEllison, jurors, and everyone who made this possible. Alhamdulillah! [Praise be to God],' Omar tweeted.

However, Omar called the verdicts a 'minuscule step on the path to justice' and wrote a list of a series of police reforms and other goals she hopes can be met towards racial equality.

Among those goals, Omar called for an 'independent agency to investigate police misuse of force' and to 'criminalize violence against protesters,' as well as calling on officials to 'demilitarize police departments' and 'disband and deconstruct failed police departments.'

Omar also called for a number of other measures and police reforms including: ending traffic stops for minor equipment violations, federal investigations into departments who utilize practices like arrest quotas, banning all racial profiling, restoring felony voting rights, and end mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the 'squad', went onto Instagram Live to address the verdict.

'This is not justice, and I'll explain to you why it's not justice,' Ocasio-Cortez said.

'It's not justice because justice is George Floyd going home tonight to be with his family. Justice is Adam Toledo getting tucked in by his mom tonight.'


Comment: Floyd wasn't 'going home' any night to 'be with his family'. He left a trail of 5 children with single moms throughout the country, and on the day he was killed, he would have been going back to some drug den to see out his trip on meth and fentanyl.


The New York congresswoman added: 'Justice is when you're pulled over, there not being a gun as part of that interaction because you have a headlight out. Justice is your school system not having or being a part of the schools-to-prison pipeline.'

'Systemic racism is a stain on our nation's soul': Joe Biden says George Floyd's killing revealed 'the knee on the neck of justice for black Americans'

President Joe Biden celebrated the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case on Tuesday, but said there was much more to be done to end the 'systemic racism' which he called a 'stain on our nation's soul'.


Comment: It appears that the only viable solution, given how determined they are to do away with the status quo, is that strictly Black cops police Black districts - and more specifically, Black suspects.

One of the ironies here is that the Left will have brought everything full circle to racial segregation. White (or Asian, Latino, etc) cops responding to 9/11 calls in Black neighborhoods are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

In fact, many cops in the US already 'self-police'; they are statistically far less likely to intervene if they perceive risk to their livelihood and reputation when the suspect(s) are Black.


Biden said that the guilty verdict on all counts sends the message that no one is 'above the law' - as he demanded new action to honor George Floyd.

The president, flanked by his vice president, Kamala Harris, said the verdict 'can be a giant step forward' for the nation, but he declared that 'it's not enough.'

Speaking from the White House in an address to the nation, he said: 'We can't stop here.

'It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the vice president just referred to.'


Comment: This happens hundreds of times every year across the USA, but we don't hear about most cases because those victims are not Black.


Biden has pledged to help combat racism in policing, and says it is important to ensure black and brown people don't fear interaction with law enforcement.


Comment: Oh many if not most of them don't! As explained above, it's law enforcement that fears interaction with them.


But he also has long projected himself as an ally of police, who are struggling with criticism about long-used tactics and training methods and difficulties in recruitment.


Comment: Indeed, Chauvin's defense was that he did what he was trained to do. Here, the individual is held responsible, not 'society', much less the state authorities that trained the officer. Selective justice, see?


Judge Cahill is now expected to move immediately to sentencing and a so-called Blakely hearing after the state has filed a motion asking for sentences upwards of the state's presumptive guidelines.

According to those guidelines, both second and third degree murder charges carry a sentence of 12 years, with a discretionary range between 10 and 15, while second-degree manslaughter carries a sentence of four, with a discretionary range of three to five.

Chauvin waived his right for the matter to be heard by a jury so the judge alone will consider the aggravating factors brought by the state.

The prosecutors' motion claims that Floyd was particularly vulnerable as he was handcuffed, that he was treated with 'particular cruelty', that Chauvin had a position of authority, more than three people were involved and the crime was committed in front of children.

Several minors were among the bystanders that day - the youngest, nine-year-old Judeah, testified in court.


Comment: It's despicable that children witnessed what happened to Floyd, but it's also despicable to use children like this.


The specter of an appeal already looms with Judge Cahill himself admitting on Monday that Congresswoman Maxine Waters may have handed the defense 'something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned'.

He was referring to the California Democrat's words on the eve of closing statements when she called for protesters to 'get more confrontational' if the jury did not return a verdict of 'guilty, guilty, guilty'.

Moment Biden, wife Jill and Kamala Harris call George Floyd's family after Derek Chauvin was found guilty and say: 'We are all so relieved... this is our real shot to deal with systematic racism'

President Joe Biden phoned family members and lawyers for George Floyd just minutes after a Minnesota jury returned a guilty verdict for Chauvin, as he again consoled family members and celebrated a verdict that he said would 'change the world.'

Biden phoned along with Vice President Kamala Harris and first lady Jill Biden. And, in a modern twist, lead attorney Benjamin Crump played the call on speaker phone - with the discussion instantly beamed around the world on social media and cable news.

'Feeling better now,' Biden told tearful family members and listeners who gathered around Crump's phone.

'Nothing is going to make it all better. But at least, God, now there's some justice,' Biden said.

Biden referenced comments by Floyd's daughter, Gianna, that her late father was going to change the world. 'He's going to start to change it now,' Biden told the group.

Biden previously revealed he also called the family Monday, with the outcome uncertain - and as the White House noted repeatedly, the jury was sequestered.

He told the family afterward: 'You're an incredible family. I wish I were there - just [to] put my arms around you.'

He told them he was with White House advisor, former Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, while making the call, which Biden made from the Oval Office.

'We've been watching every second of this, and the vice president, all of us. We were all so relieved, not just one verdict but all three,' Biden said.

Crump tweeted out video of the exchange.

'It's really important. I'm anxious to see you guys, I really am. We're going to get a lot more done,' he promised them.

'We're going to stay at it until we get it done,' Biden said.

That prompted Crump to push Biden to act on and sign the George Floyd policing act, which is stalled in the Senate.

'You got it pal. That and a lot more,' Biden promised. He said the outcome 'provided a fresh shot at dealing with genuine systemic racism.'


Comment: 'Systemic racism', if it's anything real, in the USA today, is the Democrats and their Deep State handlers keeping Blacks in their urban 'plantations' on the above-mentioned 'schools-to-prisons-pipeline'.


Harris, the nation's first black and first female vice president, also spoke.


Comment: Harris Black?! She's of upper-middle class Indian descent on one side! And her record as the state's 'top cop' in California was ruthless towards Blacks.


'I'm just so grateful for the entire family,' she said, saluting 'your courage, your commitment.'

'This is a day of justice in America,' Harris said. She called the family 'real leaders when we needed you.'

'History will look back at this moment and know that it was an inflection moment,' she said. 'We're going to make something good come out of this tragedy, okay?' she said.

Then Biden chimed back in. 'When we do it, we're going to put you on Air Force One and get you here,' he said, prompting laughs.

'We're going to hold you to that, President Biden,' Crump responded.

Earlier Tuesday, Biden said he was praying for the 'right verdict' in George Floyd trial and called the evidence 'overwhelming' in series of extraordinary comments that came as the jury began its second day of deliberations in the case.

'I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict. Which is - I think it's overwhelming in my view,' Biden told reporters in the Oval office.

'I wouldn't say that unless the jury was sequestered now.'

The White House later claimed Biden wasn't advocating for a particular verdict but expressing compassion for the Floyd family.

'I don't think he would see it as weighing in on the verdict,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at her press briefing.

'He was conveying what many people are feeling across the country, which is compassion for the family.'

She indicated Biden could have more to say after the verdict is rendered.

'I expect that he will weigh in more, further, once there is a verdict and I'm not going to provide additional analysis on what he meant,' Psaki said, declining to clarify if Biden wanted Chauvin found guilty on all charges.

She defended Biden's comments, saying the president had closely followed the trial, has gotten close to the Floyd family and waited to speak until the jury was sequestered.

Philonise went on to say: 'I just feel that in America, if a Black man can't get justice for this, what can a Black man get justice for?'

George W. Bush also discussed the verdict in an interview with Today on Tuesday morning.

'I think the first thing is, Hoda, that people know that the trial has been conducted fairly. And that rule of law reigns supreme in our judiciary. We'll see what a jury of his peers says, you know, I think a lot of people have already made up their mind what the verdict ought to be.


Comment: The rule of law was buried, along with the independence of the judiciary, when Deep Staters silenced judges after the Democrats stole the 2020 election.


'All I can tell you is that if the trial is not conducted fairly, there is an appeal process. One of the things that we learned after the storming of the Capitol was our institutions held, and one of the institutions that is really important for the confidence of the American people is a fair judicial system.'

Chauvin was handcuffed and taken away to the cells on Tuesday after Judge Cahill revoked his bail, ahead of sentencing for the murder of George Floyd. He showed no emotion and was taken straight to the cells in Hennepin County Government Center, where the trial was held, for processing before his transfer to Oak Park Heights.

His attorneys will have to notify the trial court within 60 days if they plan to appeal. His lawyers then have months to review transcripts and court filings dating from the start of the case to build their arguments.

They are likely to try and overturn the verdict based on the location - which they argue was too tense to ensure a fair trial - and on the media coverage, plus the $27 million settlement awarded to the family before the trial began. Chauvin's defense tried to argue that it prejudiced the jury, saying it implied guilt.

Chauvin will be held at Oak Park Heights for the next eight weeks, until sentencing.

The prison, the state's only maximum-security facility, built in 1982 and with a capacity for 473 male inmates, could be where Chauvin serves his sentence.

It is generally considered well run and comparatively secure, with only one murder within the walls in its almost 40 year history, and no one ever escaping.

He will, however, be closely watched to ensure his safety.

Jim Bruton, warden of the prison for 20 years until his retirement in 2001, said that inmates who killed police officers were at the top of the internal hierarchy. Chauvin would be seen as a prize target.

In addition, he will certainly be considered a suicide risk, and will be closely monitored.

Read the rest here