Updated 12.30pm (AEDT)
Former police officer Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of all charges over the death of George Floyd on a Minneapolis street in the US last year.
Chauvin, 45, was filmed kneeling on the neck of the 46-year-old African-American man for more than nine minutes during his arrest in May. He was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
A mural honouring George Floyd and other black victims in Minneapolis, Minnesota. PICTURE: Munshots/Unsplash/Creative Commons
The former police officer’s bail was revoked after the verdict. Sentencing is expected in eight weeks.
Floyd’s death had sparked nationwide protests and violence in the US as well as elsewhere around the world.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court cheered as the verdict was announced.
The Floyd family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, tweeted that the decision marked a “turning point in history” for the United States.
“Painfully earned justice has finally arrived. This verdict is a turning point in history and sends a clear message on the need for accountability of law enforcement. Justice for Black America is justice for all of America!”
US President Joe Biden called the trial verdict “a step forward”.
“The systemic racism is a stain on our nation’s soul,” he said at a press conference with Vice President Kamala Harris who highlighted the ongoing need to reform the nation’s criminal justice system.
Christian leaders also spoke out after the verdict.
Rev Jim Winkler, president of the National Council of Churches in the US, said in a tweet” “I was able to see with my own eyes that Derek Chauvin was guilty of killing George Floyd and so, too, did the members of the jury. I pray this verdict will help advance the cause of racial justice even though we still have a long way to go.”
Rev Barbara Williams-Skinner, co-convener of the National African American Clergy Network, tweeted that while she felt “great relief”, “sadly, this verdict means that a Black person must be murdered in public, followed by massive global protests for justice to be done”.
“Sadly, too, the policing system is still on trial and must be radically transformed so that Black lives matter…then indeed, all lives will matter – Latino lives, Asian lives, Indigenous lives and White lives. We continue to pray for every Black and Brown mother whose unarmed son or daughter was killed by police and paid no price for it.”
Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, tweeted that he was “grateful for justice rendered in Minneapolis”.
“Let’s remember today the family of George Floyd. And let’s work together for a new era of racial justice and American hope.”
