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Derek Chauvin Guilty On All Counts in George Floyd Murder Case


The jury in the Derek Chauvin murder trial has found the former Minneapolis cop guilty on all charges in the death of George Floyd.


We reported earlier, the police killing of Floyd last May launched ongoing protests and a racial reckoning across the United States and around the world. The prosecution rested its case in Chauvin’s murder trial last week after calling 38 witnesses and playing dozens of video clips over the course of 11 days. The defense rested Thursday after calling seven witnesses over two days.


Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for the May 25 death of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. The ex-cop was also charged with 3rd-degree murder after being captured on video pressing his knee on the neck of Floyd for almost 10 minutes before he died. In October, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, who handled the murder case, dismissed the third-degree murder charge, saying prosecutors did not have probable cause to support that charge, which is a crime committed without premeditation or intent to kill. The judge said the evidence supports taking a second-degree murder charge to trial.

Per MSN, Cahill upheld a manslaughter charge against Chauvin and all six charges against three other officers who were a part of Floyd’s arrest team. Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao. Kueng and Lane helped restrain Floyd, Cahill noted, while Thao kept bystanders at bay. The outlet also wrote “In his ruling, Cahill said a third-degree murder charge was appropriate in cases in which a defendant’s actions were “eminently dangerous to other persons” and were not specifically targeted at the person who died.”

The third-degree murder charge alleges Chauvin caused Floyd’s death by “perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life.”

In March, Cahill flipped the script when he ruled to reinstate the third-degree murder charge. An appellate ruling in an unrelated case provided new grounds for it days before the big trial started and ordered the judge to reconsider.

Chauvin was tried separately from Lane, Kueng and Thao, who are scheduled to go on trial in August.

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