Jury to hear opening arguments in trial for George Floyd’s death

Monday – A jury gathered to hear opening arguments in the murder trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin for the deadly arrest of George Floyd, which ignited a global protest movement 10 months ago.

Derek Chauvin, a 45-year-old white male, was caught on a bystander’s video, with his knee on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. Chauvin and three other officers were arresting Floyd on suspicion of passing a fake $20 bill at the Cub Foods grocery store nearby. He kept his knee on a handcuffed Floyd’s neck for about 9 minutes as Floyd used his final breaths to plead for his life.

Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, with his lawyers arguing that he followed his training stating the main cause of Floyd’s death, which the county examiner ruled a homicide, was a drug overdose. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.

The jury, including three alternates, is made up of six white women, three white men, three Black men, one Black woman and two multiracial women. Over the two weeks of jury selection, many jurors told Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill and the lawyers on each side that they recognized the scrutiny their deliberations would come under, not just by those who view the trial as a reckoning for how Black people are policed in the United States.

Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, said that he had faith that prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general’s office would see Chauvin convicted.

However, legal experts note that U.S. police officers have almost never been found criminally liable for killing a citizen.