#Chauvin verdict not guilty trial

Just seven of the 35 were convicted of murder, according to The Huffington Post. Of those 140, only 35 were convicted of a crime. Officers shoot and kill around 1,000 people a year according to a Washington Post database, and police are rarely prosecuted when they do so, according to The Huffington Post.Īccording to a study from researchers at Bowling Green State University, between 20, about 140 officers were arrested on either murder or manslaughter charges. Would Chauvin have gotten away with murdering Floyd if Darnella Frazier, the 17-year-old who first started filming Chauvin kneeling on Floyd, didn’t come along and catch Chauvin in the act on video? It’s a shame that Americans, especially Black Americans, have to ask themselves this question. It’s merely a step in the right direction.įrom the White House, Joe Biden called the verdict “ a step forward, ” but also added that it took a “unique and extraordinary convergence of factors” to deliver the conviction. Chauvin’s conviction doesn’t change these ugly numbers.

population, but they are getting killed at a disproportionate rate compared to white Americans. Justice would be zero Black people being killed at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve.īlack people are 2.6 times more likely to be killed in a shooting by a police officer than white people. Justice would be George Floyd still being alive. I think “accountability” fits better here. “Justice” was a word used a lot in the wake of the verdict. Until then, he’ll be held in solitary confinement at Oak Park Heights, a maximum-security prison in Minneapolis.Ĭhauvin’s convictions set off waves of celebration in front of the courthouse in Minneapolis. Cahill of the Hennepin County Courthouse’s Fourth Judicial district will sentence Chauvin on June 16. The jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death. Chauvin kneeled on the neck of George Floyd for more than nine minutes last May, suffocating him in front of a crowd of concerned bystanders.

#Chauvin verdict not guilty trial

Like many other Americans on April 20, I was glued to my television set in the late afternoon, awaiting the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin.