Chauvin faces decades in jail for Floyd killing

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the black man’s neck.

Chauvin, 45, could now be sent to prison for decades.

The jury of six white and six black and multiracial people came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations.

Chauvin was found guilty on all charges: seconddegree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

His face was obscured by a Covid-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom.

His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The verdict was read in a courthouse ringed with

concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on edge against another round of unrest – not just because of the Chauvin case but because of the deadly police shooting of a young black man, Daunte Wright, in a city suburb on April 11.

The jurors’ identities

were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.

Three other former Minneapolis officers charged with aiding and abetting murder in Mr Floyd’s death will stand trial in August.

Mr Floyd, 46, died on May 25 last year after being

arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They put him on the ground instead.

The centrepiece of the case was the bystander video of Mr Floyd repeatedly: “I breathe.”

Onlookers were shouting at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Mr Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was nine-and-a-half minutes.

Mr Floyd slowly silent and limp.

Prosecutors played the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, with Jerry Blackwell telling the jury: “Believe your eyes.”

It was shown over and over and analysed frame by frame by both sides.

In the wake of Mr Floyd’s death, demonstrations and violence broke out in Minneapolis, around the US and across the world.

Numerous US states and cities restricted the use of police force and also subjected police departments to closer oversight. gasping can’t went

JUSTICE: A woman celebrates at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington after hearing Derek Chauvin had been convicted for murder.

Derek Chauvin is led away from the courtroom in handcuffs; right, George Floyd.