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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sean Morrison

Jury about to deliver verdict in former police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial over George Floyd death

National Guards and other Law enforcement officers stand guard outside the Hennepin County Government Centre in Minneapolis (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

The jury has reached a verdict at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd.

The verdict is to be read later on Tuesday afternoon local time.

Mr Floyd died last May after Chauvin, a white officer, pinned his knee on the 46-year-old black man’s neck for about nine-and-a-half minutes.

The case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious re-examination of racism and policing in the US.

The jury deliberated over parts of two days in a city on edge against another outbreak of unrest.

The jury, made up of six white people and six black or multi-racial people, weighed charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.

The city has been on edge in recent days - not just over the Chauvin case but over the deadly police shooting of a 20-year-old black man, Daunte Wright, in the nearby Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Centre on April 11.

US President Joe Biden had said he was “praying the verdict is the right verdict” in the trial.

Mr Biden, ahead of a meeting with legislators in the Oval Office, told reporters that he was only weighing in because the jury in the case had been sequestered.

He confirmed that he called Mr Floyd’s family on Monday and said he “can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they’re feeling”.

This page is being updated.

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