Cop Derek Chauvin is taken to prison and placed on suicide watch after being found guilty

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Derek Chauvin was today waking up in a maximum security prison where he has been placed on suicide watch after being found guilty on all three counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. 

Yesterday’s verdict triggered cheers outside the courthouse and massive celebrations across America while Joe Biden vowed to push through civil rights reforms after the killing he called a ‘stain on the nation’s soul.’

Withing minutes Biden phoned Floyd’s family to tell them that his death, which had sparked a wave of global Black Lives Matter protests, was going to ‘change the world.’

The president was backed by other by senior Democrats, including Barack Obama who said ‘we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.’

Chauvin looked around in seeming disbelief as the judge read the decision, which centred around footage of the nine minutes and 29 seconds that he had knelt on the unarmed black man’s neck in May last year.  

It had taken the jury ten-and-a-half  hours of deliberation to find Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. 

Each required jurors to find that Chauvin’s actions were a ‘substantial causal factor’ in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable. 

Chauvin was led away in handcuffs as the judge immediately revoked his bail pending sentencing and dispatched him to Oak Park Heights, Minnesota’s only maximum security prison. 

The 45-year-old faces a minimum sentence of 12.5 years and maximum of 40 years if he serves terms for each charge concurrently. If served consecutively, Chauvin faces between 29 and 75 years.  

No prisoner has ever escaped from Oak Park Heights which houses around 500 of the most dangerous inmates in the country, 25 miles east of Minneapolis, on the border with Wisconsin. 

He is being closely watched by guards to ensure his safety, not just as a suicide risk, but also from other inmates with violent criminal histories, many of whom resent law enforcement. 

As Chauvin was placed on suicide watch: 

• Biden, Obama and other senior Democrats vowed to make Floyd’s death a turning point in civil rights
• Biden phoned Floyd’s family outside the court to pledge that he was going to change the course of history 
• People took to the streets across the country, from Minnesota to New York, as the historic verdict came in
• Thousands of relieved National Guard in Minneapolis were able to stand down after weeks on tenterhooks  
• Floyd’s family held a press conference, with his six-year-old daughter Gianna among the tearful gathering
• ‘We are able to breathe again,’ younger brother Philonise said. ‘Justice for George means freedom for all’ 
• Far-left Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, claim that verdict ‘is not justice’ 
• British PM Boris Johnson said he was ‘appalled’ by Floyd’s death and that he ‘welcomed’ the verdict 

Jim Bruton, former warden of Oak Park Heights, described in his 2004 book about the prison how the hierarchy among inmates was determined by the crime committed. At the top of the scale are those who have killed a law enforcement officer. At the bottom are sex offenders, with child molesters considered the lowest of the low.

This hierarchy, coupled with Chauvin’s infamy as a police officer, means he will undoubtedly require bolstered protection and constant monitoring.

Cheers yesterday rang out across America, from Minnesota to New York City, as thousands celebrated the verdict in the case which had sparked months of rioting and set in motion the global Black Lives Matter movement. 

President Biden phoned family members and lawyers for George Floyd just minutes after the verdict came in, consoling family members and celebrating a verdict that he said would ‘change the world.’

The call, and those from Vice President Kamala Harris and first lady Jill Biden, was played on speaker phone by lead attorney Benjamin Crump as members of the family gathered around as the moment was broadcast live on cable news.

‘Feeling better now,’ Biden told tearful family members and listeners who gathered around the phone of Philonise Floyd, George’s younger brother, ‘Nothing is going to make it all better. But at least, God, now there’s some justice.’

Biden referenced comments by Floyd’s daughter, Gianna, that her late father was going to change the world.

‘He’s going to start to change it now,’ Biden told the group.

Biden previously revealed he also called the family Monday, with the outcome uncertain – and as the White House noted repeatedly, the jury was sequestered.

Minneapolis had been on tenterhooks waiting for the verdict to come in amid fears that if a guilty verdict had not been returned then riots would have ensued. The National Guard had been deployed and razor wire surrounded the courthouse. 

Biden said: ‘We’ve been watching every second of this, and the vice president, all of us. We were all so relieved, not just one verdict but all three.’ 

Harris, the nation’s first black and first female vice president, also spoke. ‘I’m just so grateful for the entire family,’ she said, saluting ‘your courage, your commitment.’

‘This is a day of justice in America,’ Harris said. She called the family ‘real leaders when we needed you.’

‘History will look back at this moment and know that it was an inflection moment,’ she said. ‘We’re going to make something good come out of this tragedy, okay?’ she said.

Then Biden chimed back in, ‘When we do it, we’re going to put you on Air Force One and get you here,’ prompting laughs.

George’s brother Philonise, who had taken a knee at the courthouse steps at the start of the trial, was in court to hear the verdict read.

He hugged Attorney General Keith Ellison and trial attorney Jerry Blackwell, whose voice was the first and last heard by the jury as he delivered both the state’s opening statement and their final rebuttal. 

Moments later the family held a press conference outside the courtroom with their lawyer Crump, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

‘Today, we are able to breathe again,’ younger brother Philonise said. ‘Justice for George means freedom for all.’

Tears streamed down his face as he likened Floyd to the 1955 Mississippi lynching victim Emmett Till, except that this time there were cameras around to show the world what happened. 

Floyd’s six-year-old daughter Gianna was in attendance for the press conference as well, along with other members of the family. 

‘Say his name!’ Floyd’s relatives chanted as they gathered together. ‘George Floyd!’

Another brother, Terrence Floyd, said today was important not just for their family but for America’s history. 

 ‘I will miss him, but now I know he’s in history,’ Terrence said. ‘What a day to be a Floyd, man.’  

Those sentiments were echoed by former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle who said that the jury had done ‘the right thing’ in finding Chauvin guilty.

In a joint statement, they said: ‘For almost a year, Floyd’s death under the knee of a police officer has reverberated around the world — inspiring murals and marches, sparking conversations in living rooms and new legislation.

‘But a more basic question has always remained: would justice be done?

‘In this case, at least, we have our answer. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, we know that true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.’

The pair called for ‘concrete reforms’ in policing and for the elimination of racial bias from the nation’s criminal justice system.

‘Michelle and I send our prayers to the Floyd family, and we stand with all those who are committed to guaranteeing every American the full measure of justice that George and so many others have been denied,’ he said. 

British prime minister Boris Johnson also tweeted his response, writing: ‘I was appalled by the death of George Floyd and welcome this verdict. My thoughts tonight are with George Floyd’s family and friends.’ 

Later in a televised address, Biden said that the conviction ‘can be a giant step forward in the march towards justice in America.’

Vice president Harris said that ‘a measure of justice isn’t the same as equal justice.’ She added: ‘This verdict brings us a step closer and the fact is, we still have work to do. We still must reform the system.’

The jury sent their notice that a verdict had been reached at 2.30pm local time as Minneapolis and the country braced for potential violence stemming from the decision. 

Jurors had not sent back any questions to the judge or asked to review any of the hundreds of exhibits entered in the course of the trial.

Non-essential courthouse staff were told to go home as Minneapolis battened down ahead of the verdict, with 3,000 National Guard members and 1,100 law enforcement officers keeping a watchful eye over the city that’s been on edge for weeks awaiting the conclusion of the trial. 

Tensions in the city had been raised further by the death of another black man, Duante Wright, 20, who was shot and killed last week a few miles from where Chauvin’s trial was taking place. The officer in the shooting has been charged with manslaughter.

Judge Peter Cahill is now expected to move immediately to sentencing and a so-called Blakely hearing after the state has filed a motion asking for sentences upwards of the state’s presumptive guidelines.

According to those guidelines, both second and third degree murder charges carry a sentence of 12 years, with a discretionary range between 10 and 15, while second-degree manslaughter carries a sentence of four, with a discretionary range of three to five.

Chauvin waived his right for the matter to be heard by a jury so the judge alone will consider the aggravating factors brought by the state.

The prosecutors’ motion claims that Floyd was particularly vulnerable as he was handcuffed, that he was treated with ‘particular cruelty’, that Chauvin had a position of authority, more than three people were involved and the crime was committed in front of children.

Several minors were among the bystanders that day – the youngest, nine-year-old Judeah, testified in court. 

The specter of an appeal already looms with Judge Cahill himself admitting on Monday that Congresswoman Maxine Waters may have handed the defense ‘something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned’.

He was referring to the California Democrat’s words on the eve of closing statements when she called for protesters to ‘get more confrontational’ if the jury did not return a verdict of ‘guilty, guilty, guilty’. 

Chauvin was handcuffed and taken away to the cells on Tuesday after Judge Cahill revoked his bail, ahead of sentencing for the murder of George Floyd. He showed no emotion and was taken straight to the cells in Hennepin County Government Center, where the trial was held, for processing before his transfer to Oak Park Heights.

His attorneys will have to notify the trial court within 60 days if they plan to appeal. His lawyers then have months to review transcripts and court filings dating from the start of the case to build their arguments.

They are likely to try and overturn the verdict based on the location – which they argue was too tense to ensure a fair trial – and on the media coverage, plus the $27 million settlement awarded to the family before the trial began. Chauvin’s defense tried to argue that it prejudiced the jury, saying it implied guilt.  

Chauvin will be held at Oak Park Heights for the next eight weeks, until sentencing. 

Warning signs should have flashed around Chauvin years before he murdered Floyd. A Minneapolis police veteran of 19 years, he acted more like a ruthless Wild West sheriff than a modern day lawman.

He once pulled a gun on some teenagers who shot a toy dart out of their car window. He was a bully who belittled a breast feeding new mother.

And, in chilling echoes of what was to come, he held his knee on a black woman suspect as she begged: ‘Don’t kill me.’ 

 

Chauvin worked in one of the city’s busiest divisions, the Third Precinct, and on its toughest shift.

His desire to work the 4pm to 2am beat gained him admiration from some colleagues but saw him rack up at least 22 complaints, four times the norm.

He earned two medals of valor, but other officers said just being around him made them feel uncomfortable.

They recalled how he would leave work in uniform with his trousers pulled up higher than most people wore them. His boots were always polished, as if he expected to be inspected by the chief any minute.

He didn’t fit in with the other cops, rarely socializing and not drinking. One former colleague told The New York Times: ‘In a group setting he would never connect and stood there like a small child.’

Chauvin grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of West St Paul. His parents divorced when he was seven and his father asked for a paternity test on his sister: it turned out he was not the father.

He moved in with his accountant dad and attended four different elementary schools in five years.

After working as a US military officer in Germany he joined the Minneapolis Police Force in 2000 aged 24. 

On nights off he worked as a security guard at the city’s El Nuevo Rodeo nightclub.

Maya Santamaria, the club’s former owner, said that Chauvin was ‘nice but he would overreact and lash out quickly’, especially on nights popular with black and Latino people. 

Also working there, although it seems they did not know each other, was George Floyd.

Chauvin’s bad attitude was on display for those unfortunate enough to have come across him years before. 

Zoya Code, who is black, claims that in 2017 Chauvin put his knee on her even though she was handcuffed. A terrified Code said that she pleaded: ‘Don’t kill me.’ 

She added: ‘He just stayed on my neck.’

Frustrated and upset, she challenged him to press harder, and he did. 

‘Just to shut me up,’ she said.

She told Chauvin’s fellow officers: ‘You’re learning from an animal. That man – that’s evilness right there.’ 

In 2013 he pulled his gun on four teenagers who shot a Nerf gun dart out of their car window.

Kristofer Bergh, then 17, said that after an hour during which the teenager who fired the dart was put in the police car, Chauvin let them all off with the warning: ‘Most of you will be 18 by the end of the year. That means you’ll be old enough for ‘big boy jail’.’

Julian Hernandez claimed that Chauvin used excessive force when he arrested him at the El Nuevo Rodeo club in 2015.

He said: ‘He tried to grab me from my neck, and, of course, I reacted. And then, after that, he choked me out on the ground.’

Chauvin was formally disciplined for pulling a young mother out of her car and ridiculing her when he saw wet patches on her chest from breastfeeding.

According to Melissa Borton, Chauvin, or his colleague, told her: ‘You probably have postpartum depression, and you need help.’

Chauvin was married to Kellie Xiong, 46, a former radiologist and beauty queen who won the Mrs Minnesota title in 2018. 

She once described her husband in a local newspaper interview as ‘a softie’. 

She said: ‘He’s such a gentleman. He still opens the door for me, still puts my coat on for me.’

Her view has now changed. She filed for divorce two days after Chauvin killed Floyd.

Chauvin’s verdict came as a devastating blow to the three other officers charged in connection with Floyd’s death – Thomas Lane, 38; J Alexander Kueng, 27; and Tou Thao, 35 – who are set to face trial on charges for aiding and abetting Chauvin’s crimes in August.

Over 15 days of testimony the jury of seven men and five women – six white, four black and two bi-racial – was guided through every facet over Floyd’s death through the eyes of 45 witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence. 

In his opening statement, trial attorney Jerry Blackwell told the jury that Chauvin had betrayed the badge he wore on his heart. He said the former officer had violated police policy and trampled the sanctity of human life.

For Blackwell it all boiled down to the nine minutes 29 seconds of Floyd’s subdual restraint and neck compression. ‘You can believe your eyes’ he said, ‘That it’s a homicide, that it’s a murder.’

Not so, according to defense attorney Eric Nelson, for whom the truth could only be viewed through a far wider lens.

For Nelson this was all about reason, doubt and common sense. Common sense would tell the jury that what they had seen with their own eyes was only one part of a much bigger picture.

He said: ‘We have to examine the totality of the evidence. That’s what this case is ultimately about, the evidence. It is nothing more than that.’ 

As Nelson sought to un-pick emotions from the scenes of Floyd’s death and the testimony of a host of eyewitnesses brought by the state, a heavy fear of what might happen when the verdict came down gripped the city of Minneapolis.   

The downtown area was shored up with boards nailed over the windows of businesses and the concrete blockades, steel fences and bails of barbed wire embracing the court and government buildings.

More than 3,000 members of the National Guard were called in to bolster the 1,100 public safety officers already in place – their armored vehicles parked not only at the government buildings but in store parking lots, intersections and sidewalks across the city.

The city was reported to have spent more than $1million on security in a four-stage plan dubbed Operation Safety Net, which kicked off with jury selection and entered its final stage with the verdict announcement. 

The screw turned tighter with the April 11 shooting of Daunte Wright – the 20-year-old black man killed in a traffic stop by Brooklyn Center police barely ten miles from where Chauvin stood trial. 

Night after night the protests raged and curfews were broken in an unending echo of the civil unrest that followed Floyd’s death last May. 

The verdict brings to an end a trial that has been riven with drama and threats of derailment that started before the jury was even empaneled – with the city’s announcement of their $27million civil settlement with the Floyd family – and continued after closing statements’ end. 

Nelson made the last of his many bids for a mistrial on the back of statements from Rep Waters. 

Judge Cahill called Waters’ comments ‘abhorrent’ but denied Nelson’s mistrial bid and his contention that the jury could no longer be considered ‘untainted’.

Nelson had tried on many occasions to have the trial delayed and moved out of Hennepin County, but Judge Cahill would hear of neither. There was not a county in the state, he said, that had not heard of Chauvin and Floyd and no span of time would be great enough for the case to have been forgotten by any.

The judge also refused Nelson’s repeated bids to have the jury sequestered ahead of deliberations. The defense attorney’s most recent bid came on the heels of the police shooting of Wright. 

‘I’m not celebrating, I’m relieved’: Maxine Waters reacts to Chauvin’s guilty verdicts as she avoids House censure over trial comments

Waters said Tuesday she was ‘not celebrating’ following the guilty verdict in the Chauvin case – days after her own call for protesters to get ‘confrontational’ caused an uproar. 

She made the comment after the 12-member jury who heard the case pronounced the former police officer guilty on three counts. 

‘You know, someone said it better than me, I’m not celebrating, I’m relieved,’ she said. 

Her statement came after Waters and Democratic leaders also found relief on the House floor – after a motion to censure the longtime Democratic officeholder failed narrowly in the closely divided House. 

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy moved Tuesday to formally censure Waters for her comments urging protesters to ‘get more confrontational’ depending on the outcome of the Chauvin trial. He moved quickly to force the issue, after a host of GOP lawmakers condemned the comments.

The House voted to table, or kill, the effort on a party-line 216-210 party line vote. 

The result was to temporarily set aside an effort that would have served as a high-profile rebuke by the Congress, although lawmakers could still seek other measures.   

The resolution quoted from Judge Peter Cahill, who presided over the trial, and who told the defense Waters ‘may have given you something on appeal.’ The House vote came just as the nation was bracing for a verdict in the Chauvin trial for the killing of George Floyd. The nation heard the outcome just minutes after the House vote.

If censured, Waters would have been be required to appear in the well of the House – a solemn repercussion the House last experienced in the censure of former Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York.

Democrats needed to hold together nearly their entire majority, given their razor-thin margin. In a sign of how little room for error they had, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer were seen outside the doors of the chamber where they could see lawmakers entering.

McCarthy tweeted out the resolution earlier Tuesday, writing: ‘Chairwoman Waters’ actions are beneath the dignity of this institution. They raised the potential for violence, directed lawlessness, and may have interfered with a co-equal branch of government.’

Democrats immediately pointed the finger at McCarthy for failing to take any action against Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia after her own past comments about Q Anon, slavery, George Soros, and Muslims were unearthed. The House ultimately voted to strip Greene of her panel assignments. 

McCarthy’s move got a stern rebuke from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Mich.), the chair of the Democratic caucus. ‘Clean up your mess, Kevin,’ he said in words directed at McCarthy. ‘Sit this one out. You’ve got no credibility,’ he said, pointing to GOP members like Greene with their own issues.

‘Lauren Boebert is a mess. Matt Gaetz is a mess. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a mess,’ Jeffries said, referencing a trio of GOP lawmakers.    

Seven women and five men: The 12 brave jurors who gave ‘heavy duty service’ to deliver the guilty verdict heard around the world 

Judge Peter Cahill described it as ‘heavy duty jury service,’ when he dismissed the 12 jurors tasked with handing down verdicts in the Derek Chauvin trial.

Truth be told it would be hard to imagine a weightier burden than that carried by the five men and seven women who ultimately deliberated after the three week trial.

Day by day they entered a courtroom by a guarded, private entrance, surely aware of the security measures and growing crowds as this trial progressed.

Today they left the courthouse for the final time under the armed guard of Hennepin County Sheriff department deputies who have been by their side throughout. 

Drawn from a pool of 300 potential jurors their identities have been a closely guarded secret and will no doubt remain so as the nation absorbs their verdict unless or until they choose to speak out after an arduous three weeks.

Though this was the first trial in Minnesota to allow cameras into proceedings the jurors were never once on screen. Thanks to Covid-19 restrictions of plexiglass and distancing not even the attorneys had a view of all 12 and the two alternates who sat through proceedings.

They were seated in the order of their selection and are known only by numbers.

Juror 2 is a white man in his twenties and was the first juror seated. He said he hadn’t even seen the video of Floyd’s death before his selection.

Juror 9 is a bi-racial woman in her twenties who grew up in a small town in Minnesota and admitted to being excited at the prospect of sitting on the jury and who has a relative in law enforcement.

Juror 19 is a white man in his 30s who said he had a ‘somewhat negative view’ of Chauvin and supported BLM in general during his voire dire. He has a ‘friend of a friend’ who works for Minneapolis police but said he had not discussed the case with him.

Juror 27 is a black man in his 30s who works in IT and had seen the video of Floyd’s death. He said that he had commented to his wife on watching it, ‘that could have been me.’

Juror 44 is a white woman in her 50s, and single mother of two sons who is an executive in a non-profit health-care advocacy group. She said that she had discussed White privilege with a black co-worker to whom she is close.

Juror 52 is the second black man selected, in his thirties the youth coach said he had not seen the video of Floyd’s death in full but was ‘at a loss’ as to what Chauvin was thinking. He wondered why others didn’t step in to stop it all.

Juror 55 is a white woman in her 50s, a singe mother of two who rode her motorbike in memory of her late husband with whom she once shared the pastime. She said she had been scared by the unrest that overwhelmed Minneapolis last May and also admitted to having formed a ‘somewhat negative view of Chauvin,’ but said that she had not seen the full video of Floyd’s death.

Juror 79 is a black man in his 40s, an immigrant from West Africa who has lived in the Twin Cities for 20 years. He claimed to be entirely neutral when it came to Chauvin and said that he had, ‘no opinion’ as to the cause of Floyd’s death.

Juror 85 is a biracial woman in her forties who also claimed to have formed no opinion as to how Floyd died. She said that she was ‘working mom and wife,’ and acknowledged that human beings can make mistakes and that includes police officers.

Juror 89 is a cardiac nurse, a white woman in her 50s, who works with ventilated patients. Despite having formed no opinion on how Floyd died said she had seen some of the video and admitted that her training would influence her views on whether Chauvin administered basic first aid training and in her assessment of when it became necessary to do so.

Juror 91 is a black woman and grandmother in her 60s who has a relative who serves as a Minneapolis Police officer but to whom she said she was not close.

Juror 92, the final juror seated,  is a white woman in her 40s who admitted to having heard about the city’s $27million civil settlement with the Floyd family but said it would not bias her and that she could remain neutral. She said she had watched the video of Floyds death at least four or five times but when asked what media coverage she was aware of she said only that Chauvin was ‘an aggressive cop with tax problems.’

Defense attorney Eric Nelson repeatedly asked for this jury to be sequestered during the trial and repeatedly his request fell on deaf ears.

In the end the jurors spent just one night in sequestration after they rendered their verdict on the second day of their deliberations.

Speaking after they had done so, Attorney General Keith Ellison added his thanks to that already expressed by Judge Cahill.

He said, ‘We owe our thanks to the jury. They now deserve to return to their lives. If they ask you to respect their privacy we ask you to honor that request.’

The jurors names will be released at a time to be determined by the judge.

Nancy Pelosi THANKS George Floyd for ‘sacrificing your life for justice’ in bizarre statement after Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi bizarrely thanked George Floyd for ‘sacrificing your life for justice’ in remarks after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of three counts of murder and manslaughter.

‘Thank God the jury validated what we saw,’ Pelosi said at a press conference on Capitol Hill, referring to the video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes.

‘Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice, for being there to call out to your mom,’ she said. 

‘Because of you and because of thousands, millions of people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous with justice,’ she added.

Pelosi said she spoke to the Floyd family Tuesday afternoon.  

‘Around three o’clock I spoke to the family, to say to them: thank you. God bless you for your grace and your dignity,’ she said.

She made her comments surrounded by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The lawmakers watched the verdict together in a room off the Capitol.  

The speaker and other black lawmakers called for police reform, including the passage of The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. 

‘This is the first step,’ Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, the head of the Congressional Black Caucus, said of the verdict. ‘Today we start to change the world.’ 

The legislation would prohibit choke holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level, limit them at the state and local level, and restrict the use of qualified immunity, a legal shield for police against civil suits. 

Congress has limited power to regulate the police, most of whom fall under state jurisdiction.