The verdict is in. What happens next?
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(MINNEAPOLIS, MN) – The jury in State of Minnesota vs. Derek Chauvin reached a verdict on Tuesday afternoon, after about ten hours of deliberation which began shortly after closing arguments were delivered in court on Monday.
The jury read the verdict in open court while it was broadcast via the live courtroom camera feed that streamed out to media all over the world.
The jury’s decision on the following charges against Derek Chauvin, the ex-cop accused of killing George Floyd, were as follows:
- 2nd degree unintentional murder while committing a felony: Guilty
- 3rd degree murder: Guilty
- 2nd degree manslaughter: Guilty
2nd degree murder charge: The state did prove to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death while committing a 3rd degree felony assault, inflicting “substantial bodily harm” that substantially caused his death.
3rd degree murder charge: The state met its burden of proof on this charge. It was added in 2020 when Chauvin was first charged in the death of George Floyd, but Judge Cahill would later dismiss it. It then went through appellate review before getting kicked back to the court. It was subsequently re-instated onto the charges when the state made its opening arguments to the jury.
2nd degree manslaughter charge: The state did also meet its burden of proof on this lesser charge.
As 21WIRE said from the beginning of this trial, this charge seemed to most ‘fit like a glove’ for the jury enough to reach a unanimous decision.
This jury had its instructions and the law to follow, and applied the instructions and interpreted the law as it relates to the evidence in this case during its deliberation phase.
In the days leading up to the verdict this week, there were politicians that couldn’t resist weighing-in on their preferred verdict, with President Joe Biden hoping for the ‘right’ verdict, and here, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), effectively inserting themselves into the jury deliberation process:
Watch as disgraceful Rep. ‘Mad Max’ Waters joins street mobs in #Minneapolis area, inserting herself into #ChauvinTrial to ‘fight’ if Chauvin acquitted: pic.twitter.com/S6XZmGLsE8
— Patrick Henningsen (@21WIRE) April 20, 2021
It was pre-verdict outbursts like this that prompted Judge Peter Cahill to tell defense attorney Eric Nelson in open court, who motioned on-the-spot for a mistrial, that Waters’ comments were both “disrespectful to the rule of law” and could be “something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.”
The sentencing phase of this trial for defendant Chauvin will be the court’s next order of business.
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