Consider This from NPR - Jury Finds Derek Chauvin Guilty On All Counts In Killing Of George Floyd

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been convicted on three counts in the trial over George Floyd's killing. The jury announced their verdict on Tuesday and found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.In participating regions, you'll also hear from local journalists about what's happening in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward, working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. Nine campuses, one purpose. Creating tomorrow, today. More at iu.edu. Just after 4 p.m. Central on Tuesday, in a courtroom in Minneapolis. Members of the jury, I will now read the verdicts as they will appear in the permanent records of the 4th Judicial District. A jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on three charges. Unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The former Minneapolis police officer was filmed in May of last year kneeling on the neck of George Floyd. Floyd was pinned and handcuffed

to the ground, and for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, you could hear him on video, among other things, calling for his mother. The video, seen around the world, played heavily throughout the trial, and a parade of witnesses took the stand in the Hennepin County courtroom. Members of George Floyd's family, medical experts, and remarkably other police officers testifying for the prosecution. The Minneapolis police chief, Madeira Arredondo, Chauvin's former boss, testified that Chauvin's use of force against Floyd was not reasonable. That in no way, shape, or form is anything that is by policy, is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values. Attorneys in the trial presented the jury differing explanations for the cause of Floyd's

death. The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Floyd's death a homicide, saying that Floyd's heart and lungs stopped functioning, quote, while being restrained by police. Meanwhile, the defense brought experts who argued that a number of other factors, for instance, an enlarged heart or fentanyl in George Floyd's system, may have been responsible for his death. Here's how David Fowler, a retired forensic pathologist, put it for the defense. It's very difficult to say which of those is the most accurate, so I would fall back to undetermined.

And that video, the person behind that cell phone, well, they testified in this trial as well. Darnella Frazier was 17 when she stopped in the street and began recording a video of George Floyd's arrest. That video went up on Facebook. It's the one that sparked protests around the world. And in her testimony, Frazier captured the way many Black Americans felt when they saw that video. When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad. I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles, because they are all Black. I have a Black father, I have a Black brother, I have Black friends.

And I look at that and I look at how that could have been one of them. Consider this. Eleven months after the arrest that ended George Floyd's life, the case against former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin has ended in a murder conviction. From NPR, I'm Adi Cornish. It's Tuesday, April 20th. Want extra support and comfort while you sleep? Consider this. This Sattva Classic with two layers of coils does both. That's why it can't be smashed into a box. Visit Sattva at

sattva.com slash NPR. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. In stressful times, you want to spend your time checking out not just what's best, but what's best for you. We know you care about what you watch, what you read, and what you listen to. NPR. Our correspondent, Leila Fadal, is in Minneapolis. She's covering the Chauvin trial, and she spoke with my colleague Ari Shapiro

just minutes after the guilty verdicts came in. I'm actually outside the courthouse, outside the fencing, and as soon as the guilty verdicts were read, you hear cheers from the crowd. I saw people crying, hugging each other, a little bit in disbelief that they didn't expect to get these actual convictions. In speaking to people, they feel that this is a moment about accountability, but also people feel this is not enough. They feel that George Floyd shouldn't have lost his life and that there should be accountability generally.

This now shouldn't be as unique as it is. So right now, a sense of relief, really, from these hundreds of people outside the courthouse. Do you think closure? I mean, is closure too strong a word? Not closure. I mean, people feel that there's a long path ahead, that this verdict is a very important moment when it comes to accountability and policing. But they also see it as a moment to use to change legislation and think about accountability when it comes to policing. I was speaking to somebody in the crowd earlier that talked about qualified immunity and what

that means when it comes to people who lose their lives at the hands of police and how that might need to change, according to her. And so people feel this is a step forward, that this is justice, at least some kind of justice, in their opinion, in the loss of this one man's life. But people are still losing their lives, sometimes unfairly and with a lack of accountability. Are people chanting behind you singing? I hear some faint voices. Yes, people are chanting. They were chanting justice. They were chanting towards law enforcement actually earlier, you can go home now.

And then I said- They were chanting towards law enforcement, you can go home now, did you say? Yes, that's what they said now. I take it they didn't go home. Go home now. No, they're still here. So the National Guard is looking out from the courthouse building. Obviously, that's fenced off.

But you can see some of the people in the crowd sort of holding up George Floyd's portrait to them as they walk by. And so that's sort of the scene here. There's lots of people holding up Floyd's portrait, Floyd's name, and a feeling of relief that these charges came back guilty and there is some accountability. That's NPR correspondent Leila Fadal. Now, during his campaign for president last year, Joe Biden offered his condolences to George Floyd's loved ones in a video that played at Floyd's funeral. And Biden asked this question. Why do so many Black people in America wake up knowing they could lose their lives? Now is the time for racial justice. That's the answer we must give to our children when they ask why. Because when there is justice for George Floyd, we will truly be on our way to racial justice in America. President Biden has pledged to help end the epidemic of Black people being killed by police,

but he's also presented himself as an ally of the law enforcement community. NPR's Juana Summers has been reporting on how the president has been walking this line. Aside from the policing overhaul bill that carries George Floyd's name that is stalled in Congress, Biden does not have a clear agenda to deliver on his promise of making real change in policing and communities of color. Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence of Michigan was one of a group of Black lawmakers that met with Biden at the White House last week. She says the president constantly weighs the impact of his words. We have been very much made aware of these issues in the Black community, but for him to acknowledge them and to share with us his understanding

was very, very powerful and hopeful. But the way in which Biden initially spoke about the killing of Daunte Wright raised questions about the president's understanding of the issues at the intersection of race, justice, and policing. Take a listen to what Biden told reporters the day after Wright was shot during a traffic stop last week. The question is, was it an accident? Was it intentional? That remains to be determined by a full-blown investigation. But in the meantime, I want to make it clear again, there is absolutely no justification, none, for looting.

No justification for violence. It rips, it tears at the fabric of my soul, quite frankly. It really does, because the instinct is to assume that the person who was killed did something wrong and may have deserved it. That was New York Congressman Jamal Bowman responding to Biden. He says he wants to hear Biden demonstrate his empathy. We need to see the same urgency and feel the same urgency from the president when it comes to Black lives and from all of us as elected officials, as leaders. Do we value Black life more than we value property? The video of former police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd's neck

in the final moments of his life sparked protests across the country last year. That racial reckoning changed the course of the presidential campaign. Biden was elected after naming systemic racism as one of four major crises facing the nation. And voters put him into office, along with Kamala Harris, the nation's first Black and Asian vice president.

Amy Allison is a political organizer and the founder of She the People. She says that if the White House does not directly address these issues, many people who turned out for Biden in 2020 may not do so again. I think at this point where the constant barrage and news of the violence and dehumanization of Black people, of brown people, at the hands of government employees, police, you know, there's just a, there is a sense that something must be done. But Biden has also projected himself as an ally of police, leaving him facing pressure on two fronts. Jim Pascoe is the executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police and has been meeting with administration officials. Though the group supported former President Trump in the general election, Pascoe says he believes the president is well suited to bringing together groups that

don't see eye to eye. He still has enough credibility in the law enforcement community, and I believe credibility in the civil rights community to ideally position him to at least try with the potential for success to get everybody together on issues. The conclusion of the Chauvin trial could compound a moment of intense pain over police killings in this country. And in responding, the president may try to heal the soul of a divided nation, but he also appears caught in a double bind. NPR political reporter Juana Summers. And to get the latest on this developing story, you can listen to your local NPR station where we'll have ongoing coverage. And if you don't know what station that might be, visit npr.org slash stations to find out.

You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Adi Cornish.