Historic US verdict: ex-cop Derek Chauvin found guilty of George Floyd’s murder

The historic verdict was decided in ten hours and was read in court live for the whole world. Derek Chauvin, the cop who knelt for more than nine minutes on George Floyd’s neck while he was lying down, handcuffed and repeating, over and over, “I can’t breathe,” was found guilty of murdering him, a homicide that horrified the United States and unleashed a furious global wave of protests against racism.

Judge Peter Cahill read the jury’s verdict, which found Chauvin guilty of three counts against him for Floyd’s murder last year.

For two days, the 12 people who made up that jury had the world in suspense. Their names were kept secret. By order of the judge, they were only identified by a number. “Jury No. 9”, “Jury No. 19” or “Jury No. 52”. Seven jurors are women, five are men. Six are white, and another six are black or multiracial. Among them was a chemist, an immigrant who has lived in the United States for 14 years, a single mother, or a retired psychologist who already has grandchildren, who grew up near the place where George Floyd, 46, was murdered.

Locked up in a Minneapolis hotel, the 12 people decided to find Derek Chauvin, the cop who knelt on Floyd’s neck, guilty on May 25 during his arrest in Minneapolis. Floyd died of suffocation. The homicide, captured by a cell phone, toured the world. His last words – “I can’t breathe,” he repeated more than 20 times – became a cry of protest against racism. The trial of Chauvin, the main defendant of the four police officers who participated in Floyd’s arrest, was broadcast live on television – the first televised trial in Minnesota history – and followed minute by minute by the newspapers.

“Today we can breathe again,” Floyd’s brother Philones Floyd said at a news conference.

For millions of people, the verdict offered relief and justice and marked a historic break in the long history of police brutality suffered by African Americans in the United States, one of the most poignant symptoms of racism inherited from the days of slavery. Despite the overwhelming evidence against Chauvin, many feared that the former policeman would be acquitted, and the crime would go unpunished. The enormous tension and expectation had reached the Oval Room of the White House.

Floyd’s murder shocked a country where millions suffer from racism every day and unleashed a wave of fury, helplessness, and frustration that swept through dozens of cities and spread to the rest of the world. Floyd’s death changed the course of the presidential campaign that ended in the victory of Biden, who endorsed and joined the call to end systemic racism, over Donald Trump, who turned his back on him and downplayed racial inequalities. The last time the United States had experienced such social upheaval was in the 1960s.

The US Biden, communicated by phone with the family of George Floyd to express his support both before and after the verdict of the jury and promises to continue fighting in the country against racism clarifying that everyone must comply with the law no matter who they are.