Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all three charges:
- Second-degree murder
- Third-degree murder
- Second-degree manslaughter
He has been arrested and sent to jail. Sentencing will come in eight weeks (June 2021).
Chauvin is the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd last year in 2020 by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes. It was caught on video, setting off the worst civil unrest in the US in over 50 years, leading to protests worldwide. Chauvin is White, Floyd was an unarmed Black man.
The jury had 6 Whites, 4 Blacks and 2 who were multiracial. It took only 10.5 hours for them to come to a unanimous decision after three weeks of trial testimony and, yesterday, a day of closing arguments. While the trial was going on, yet another unarmed Black man, Daunte Wright, was killed by police just miles away.
Killer cops in the US are rarely charged with a crime, much less convicted. And when convicted are generally given light sentences, often getting parole instead of prison time.
– Abagond, 2021.
Update (June 25th): Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison (out of a possible 10 to 30 years). He has never apologized to Floyd’s family.
See also:
AMEN and AMEN again!!! Screw the Changeling — Keith Ellison for President, Fam!!!
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“Killer cops in the US are rarely charged with a crime, much less convicted. And when convicted are generally given light sentences, often getting parole instead of prison time.”
Let’s see what happens ” …in eight weeks (June 2021).”
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Look at God!
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I watched the verdict live (it was recommended by the algorithm when I happened to be online) even though I didn’t pay attention to the trial much. The guilty verdict is the correct outcome but I felt strangely unsatisfied watching it. I’m not 100% sure why my initial reaction was so muted but perhaps it’s because:
1) George Floyd is still dead.
2) In the infamous video of the crime (which I’ve never watched to completion), Chauvin seemed to enjoy suffocating Mr. Floyd before an audience and has never shown a shred of remorse.
3) Chauvin was treated in a much more dignified manner than Mr. Floyd was, in that he was afforded the due process denied Mr. Floyd.
4) He was a bad cop with previous complaints but the system allowed him to remain on the force to murder Mr. Floyd.
Maybe my reaction is one of the possible normal reactions. Probably George Floyd’s family feels the same way. I am glad that Chauvin has been convicted but I’m still mad that this happened at all. I’m still mad that sick sadists such as Chauvin are in the police force. I’m still mad that children and teenagers, men and women, had to powerlessly watch cops slowly squeeze the life out of Mr. Floyd. “Guilty” was the only sensible verdict and I struggle to celebrate the fact that we couldn’t take sense as a given, especially given the absurdity of the crime.
But that’s me trying to find the words retrospectively; a reaction is a spontaneous thing.
Now on to the sentencing …
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It’s a fortunate thing though.
Any shenanigans in court would have made for an awful Tuesday in America.
I sincerely hope the family feels some peace and relief even as the process continues.
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And…
The ink wasn’t completely dry on Chauvin’s case paperwork when a 15 year old girl was shot dead by police in Columbus Ohio.
https://news.yahoo.com/columbus-police-fatally-shoot-person-222318319.html?guccounter=1
This just happened so reporting is still fluid but I can totally see the police showing up and unleashing a hail of bullets before ascertaining what was happening. They are able to take heavily armed white mass shooters into custody alive but a 15 year old black girl who called them for help is immediately assessed as a deadly threat.
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We’ll see what further information reveals about that case.
But regardless of the nature of that police shooting, it really underscores that one should think twice before calling police.
What they bring to the table is a deadly weapon and the ability to use it with virtual impunity.
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Well I’ll be damned, there might be a God afterall.
Now lets see what they do behind closed doors while everyone is out celebrating. Don’t forget how they got Peter Liang off!
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It does have a “too good to be true” feeling to it.
Well, that’s why we need to stay on em. They might try to pull a fast one behind closed doors.
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This (BEEP)!!!
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@Origin, your feeling mirrors mine. I am happy that Derek Chauvin has been convicted, like you, I like unsatisfied.
May Allah Allah grant George Floyd Jannah. Ameen
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@ everyone.
I am curious; Do you feel this could be a catalyst for change in your country?
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@ Zoe
here in the East, BLM has been somewhat tarnished by videos of Black violence against Asians…
It is one of the problems of a binary world—Blacks =good/Whites=bad—-distorts the reality that our world is grey on a good day.
There is prejudice against Asians and prejudice by Asians—its complex.
If the rhetoric had been more nuanced, Systemic oppression vs humanity as opposed to White/Black…a more global conversation could have been had?
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Can’t say I call this justice, but it is accountability. Now they need to go after the accomplice police that stood by and did nothing.
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I feel relief Chauvin is going to prison, but on the heels of this verdict. Now we learn of 15 year old M’ Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.
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My heart goes out to young Darnella Frazier. If it hadn’t been for her video. Chauvin would be walking a free man. I am sure all the onlookers who witnessed Chauvin kill Floyd, have PTSD.
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That racist judge was giving me MAGA vibes. And at the end that sorry defensive attorney, wanted to use comments by Representative Maxine Waters, for his garbage defense. Both the defense attorney and the judge were racist MAGA Republicans.
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Update: Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison (out of a possible 10 to 30 years). He has never apologized to Floyd’s family.
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Sic transit gloria mundi, Tuesdi, Wednesdi…
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Chauvin’s mother did not offer condolences to the Floyd family either. She also had the nerve to say she believed in her son’s “innocence” after seeing him murder another human being in broad daylight on video.
The apple did not fall far from this tree.
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