Emotions are higher than expectation outside court in Minneapolis.
People shouting for justice for George Floyd over an undercurrent of concern this trial won’t go their way.
His sister Bridgett Floyd, who was representing the family in court, addressed supporters outside: “He was so family oriented. He loved his family. He loved his daughter. Gianna meant the world to him.
“And we will never get that back. I want you guys to continue to pray for our family because we need it, we need it.”
Bridgett Floyd addressed what losing her brother has impacted her on the first day of the Derek Chauvin trial
This is a community deeply traumatised by the killing of George Floyd. There’s a sense a guilty verdict would go some way in helping them heal.
“There is no accountability when you’re this skin colour,” says Toshira Garraway, who runs a group supporting families against police violence. She has questions after the father of her child was found dead in 2009.
“We have to bank on this case because for so many of us we didn’t even get a trial,” Toshira tells me.
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Protesters march ahead of Chauvin trial
Not everyone here is confident they’ll get the verdict they want. Minneapolis is a city on edge – the courthouse already heavily fortified and protected by the national guard.
Inside, the eyes of the world are following proceedings. Such is the level of interest this is the first criminal trial to be fully televised in the state of Minnesota.
The former police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd appeared in person on court cameras today. Dressed in a dark suit and face mask, Derek Chauvin took notes as he followed legal wrangling in court.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second degree murder and manslaughter
Charged with second degree murder and manslaughter, the judge is seeking to include a lesser charge of third degree murder in his trial.
This would give the jury another avenue for conviction. Derek Chauvin’s legal team have appealed against this additional charge and that has delayed jury selection which was due to begin on Monday.
Selecting a jury was already going to be a lengthy process. Finding twelve impartial people in a community with such intense emotions around the issue of policing is already a challenge.
Potential jurors have already been asked their views on policing, if they ever attended any protests and how many times they viewed the video of Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
In a city where nearly one in five people are black, it will be a challenge to find any that don’t already have an opinion on what happened to George Floyd.
The protests outside the courthouse have all been peaceful but there’s a deep mistrust in the police here and the demonstrators come with their own armed security and team of chaplains.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides over pretrial motions before jury selection
“We’re trained in de-escalation and trauma care and cultural awareness,” says Native American Chaplain Kelly Sherman-Conroy.
“And so we’re trying to bring more of a peaceful presence and be here knowing that people are coming with trauma.”
The intense public interest in this trial is two-fold – people want justice for George Floyd but a conviction would also represent a potential barometer for change in a country where police officers are rarely held accountable for brutality against black people.
The ruling will be defining not just for the Floyd family but for a whole community. In a trial that is expected to be one of the biggest in US history, only time will determine if it changes the course of racial injustice in America.
In my view justice would be waiting to hear all the evidence and coming to a conclusion based on law and facts.
I agree 100%. However, where they going to find 12 people that have not set in their minds a verdict? Although I had to be reminded of the whole thing, before I had any idea what was going on. Funny how that works.
Quit making him sound like a saint, he’s been in prison held a gun to a pregnant woman. Among other crimes, didn’t deserve to die that way, but would have died from drugs eventually.How does tearing up a city and destroying things bring justice to anything. Just another reason for people to destroy things. And the rest of us have to pay through our taxes to rebuild. Any rioting should be stopped pronto.
The only way this ends at all well is for Chauvin to plead guilty to excessive force, take some kind of deal and disappear without a trial. If the trial goes on and he’s found innocent the looters looking for “reparations” (for not having been slaves) will tear down the city, and if he’s found guilty of anything other than outright murder they’ll tear down the city. Most of them have no idea who Floyd is; it’s just a chance to smash windows, burn police cars, and steal TV’s and Nikes.
Absolutely right Ripley! And they don’t really care about justice or morals. Blacks have always had violent tendencies. It’s in their blood and noone will ever change that! And for their info. if it wasn’t for white people they would still be living in Africa in grass huts and killing each other even more than they do here.
You are so right
That is where they should be, have done nothing to help this Country, drugs and criminal activity seems to be their forte.
And if it wasn’t for barbaric and violent white people, more Native Americans and other non-whites who have been kidnapped and killed would have had just as much prosperity. The land was stolen, people brutalized, and then there is forced labor for the sole purpose of benefiting the European race. You need to read your American history books. It’s all clearly stated and documented by your historians. Living in huts? Where did you all come from? You did not originate here.
Pelosi gave Floyd “saint” status. The man was far from that, he was a life-long career criminal. If he were such a “good” man what was he doing wired to gills trying to pass counterfeit bills? If he hadn’t been on drugs and had done what the officers instructed him to do he probably would not have died that day. I think the officers involved should be exonerated of all charges.
“He was so family oriented. He loved his family. He loved his daughter. Gianna meant the world to him.” It is my understanding that he had 4 other children, 2 of whom did not even know he was their father until he became the news.
The coroner’s investigation proved that Floyd was a dead man walking. He had poisoned himself with an overdose of fentanyl and other illegal drugs before his encounter with the police. He was screaming that he could not breathe while trying to kick his way out of the patrol car after the police arrested him for trying to pass counterfeit money. It appears that the cops were trying to hold him down from hurting himself as he was going into convulsions. In the beginning, without knowing all the facts, I too thought that the police had been too rough on the man, but once the whole picture became clear it was evident that the man would have died if the police had not even shown up. George Floyd was a victim of his own hands and the hands of the drug dealer that sold him the illegal drugs. Go after them. Chase down the drug dealers and get them off the street. Shut down the border to stop these drugs from coming into the country or else there will continue to be untimely deaths due to overdoses.
The statement made about “skin color” in the article being the reason that things like George Floyd’s demise happened is utter crap.
The fact is, that it’s not “skin color” that creates the division of the races.
In the case of the negro it’s not the “skin”, nor the hair, nor the features that account for the non-acceptance of their genre’
It’s the entire package that’s the turn-off.
It’s everything-from the inside out and the outside in-that makes them not acceptable and causes the problems when they try to invade areas where they are not to be.
There is no such thing as “racial equality”.
It doesn’t exist.
There’s a top of the racial spectrum and there is a bottom. Guess who’s on the bottom ?God did not create all men equal.
There are no two people who are alike any where in creation. There’s no two races alike either.
The entirety of God’s creation screams out of unique individuality. The same thing applies to the false doctrine of “racial equality”.
It doesn’t exist.
That lie has been created by those elitist, devil worshiping scum bags to use as ploy to miscegenise society and have a muddled mob that they can easily control and rule over.
The Bible states who and what the negro is when the term “beast of the earth” and “beast of the field” is used to refer to those who God forbid the Adamite Race to mix with. He commanded those who are the descendants of Adam to remain separate and racially pure. I’m not referring to the Edomite-Jews either who are not Isreal.
God commands segregation.
Do some serious research.
Amen. Well said.
His sister Bridgett Floyd, who was representing the family in court, addressed supporters outside: “He was so family oriented. He loved his family. He loved his daughter. Gianna meant the world to him.
What a total load of crap. The man cared far more about drugs and getting high than he did about anything else.
As a formerly licensed attorney and prosecutor in Minnesota, now retired, I can only state that equal justice must be based on the facts and law. Period. Minnesota has a highly trained and competent bar, both judges and counsel, and I’m confident this case will go forward and result in a fair verdict. George Floyd was no saint, but a felon and dealer caught in the commission of a felony, arrested by police (not all of whom were white) who applied force. He was not arrested, nor did his death result from, the incidental fact he was black. The case will turn on whether he died of fentanyl overdose, whether the police were justified in using force, whether the force was excessive and whether medical care was administered. This is NOT a murder case absent intent but it may be a negligence case. My advice to the good people of Minneapolis (I was born just 3 miles from the incident) is to be prepared for the riots that will occur no matter what the verdict is. Bet on it.
Thanx for your clear, concise and well reasoned comment. Michael. It seems clear floyd was already dieing of a fentanyl overdose when arrested. That said, WTH has happened to our country and our people?
“There is no accountability when you’re this skin colour,” says Toshira Garraway. Did she just say that Black people don’t have to be accountable for anything?
That’s exactly what she said, giving folks a preview of the tribal war she and the Democrats want.
Floyd was a thug who died from a drug overdose. He was not killed by anyone but himself. End of Syory.
Do you really think that is what she meant? Or could she have meant; people who transgress against people of her “skin color” (i.e.: blacks) are not held accountable for their actions?
“There’s a sense a guilty verdict would go some way in helping them heal.” “Not everyone here is confident they’ll get the verdict they want.”
Justice is not coming up with a guilty verdict to help the mob heal in some way. Nor is it justice to give the mob the verdict it wants. Justice is about discerning the truth, and enforcing law and order.
He knew what he was doing. He’s nothing but a DRUG ADDICT that needed HELP and his FAMILY let him Down. He was TOLD to Stop and would not because he was to DOPED UP.
DON’T Blame the COPS !
It sounds like they have already decided that a guilty verdict is needed. Trying a man when people are rallying outside the court calling for a predetermined verdict usually goes bad for the accused. The mere fact that the victim had already taken a fatal dose of a fentanyl and that the police department taught the officer to use this type of restraint gives me concern if a guilty verdict is reached.
It’s already been said, he was a criminal on fentanyl in the process of committing yet another crime! We need to see the video of what happened just prior to Floyd hitting the ground. It took 3 officers to take him down but so far, that video has yet to be shown! The black community has already declared the police guilty without trial. The difference between law-abiding people and those that think rioting, looting, and free shopping days are the answer!
Did you not notice there were several races protesting Floyd’s death. Not all police are corrupt but that 9-minute video is worrisome. Officers sign up to serve and protect. Wearing a badge is not a license to kill. Even if he was going to die from drugs, the officer did not have the right to kill him. You know justice is blind when it comes to minority races. Look at the incarceration numbers of minorities [more free labor]. White people get a pass. Often it’s probation or a light sentence.
Do I think the police should be allowed to kneel on anyone’s neck, hell no, however these people are making Floyd out to be a Saint. He is not, he was a drug addict and died from the crap he was putting in his body not from the Cops knee.