The TLDR: The jury found police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all charges. He kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for nine whole minutes and killed him. But everyone agrees, true justice for Black victims of police brutality cannot be delivered by a single verdict. We offer some quick background to the case, the trial and look at its significance. 

The killing

Here’s a timeline of events that led to 46-year old Floyd’s death:

• He walked into a grocery store and paid with a $20 bill.
• The young teenage clerk believed the bill was counterfeit and called the police—as per the protocol. The store owner who was familiar with Floyd was not at the store.
• The employee also told the police that Floyd appeared "drunk" and "not in control of himself.”
• The police arrived and confronted Floyd who was sitting in a parked car with two others. They handcuff him and try to put him in the squad car. This is when Derek Chauvin arrives on the scene.
• Chauvin pulled Floyd away from the car and threw him to the ground. Then he proceeded to press his knee down on Floyd’s neck.
• More than 27 times, Floyd said that he can’t breathe. He was also pleading for his mother and begging "please, please, please.” 
• At one point he gasped and said: "You're going to kill me, man"—to which Chauvin replied: "Then stop talking, stop yelling. It takes heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
• 17-year old Darnella Frazier filmed the entire scene and bystanders told the police to stop.
• Nine minutes and 29 seconds later, Chauvin removed his knee. Floyd was motionless. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead one hour later.

The trial

The charges: Chauvin was charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter: 

• The first charge says that he killed Floyd “without intent” while assaulting him. 
• The second says he caused Floyd's death by "perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life." 
• And the last—second-degree manslaughter charge—says he caused Floyd's death by “culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm.”

Point to note: All charges, however, focus on one key issue: Chauvin was responsible for Floyd’s death. Or as the pulmonary expert made clear in the trial: “A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died”—and that is the essence of what the jury has determined.

The defence: focused on making three key arguments.

One, Chauvin's use of force was “reasonable”:

“[Chauvin’s lawyer] emphasized that the jury instructions say that no crime has been committed if a police officer was justified in using reasonable force and that jurors should determine what is justified by considering what ‘a reasonable police officer in the same situation would believe to be necessary.’”

Two, Floyd’s actions before he was thrown to the ground made it clear that Chauvin faced an “imminent threat” from Floyd. According to the defence, a handcuffed Mr. Floyd resisted attempts to get him into the back of a police car, saying he was claustrophobic. Hence, the damning footage is misleading:

“It’s not the proper analysis, because the nine minutes and 29 seconds ignores the previous 16 minutes and 59 seconds… A reasonable police officer would, in fact, take into consideration the previous 16 minutes and 59 seconds.”

Three, while Floyd did not die of an overdose, the fentanyl and methamphetamine found in his system were key factors—as was the fact that he suffered from heart disease. 

Trigger warning: This next bit is especially difficult to read.

The prosecution: didn’t need much more than the actual footage of Floyd’s death, and a particularly damaging testimony from pulmonologist, Dr Martin Tobin. Here’s what he said: 

• First, he unbuttoned his shirt and asked the jurors to feel their neck—so they could imagine how it would feel to have someone’s knee press down on it.
• He then said the knee was “extremely important because it's going to occlude the air getting in through the passageway.”
• Then he emphasized the position in which Floyd was pinned down, lying flat on his front on the street. He was caught between the police officers pushing him down—with one knee on his neck, and another on his back and side—and his handcuffed hands pressing into his chest. 
• He said: “It’s like the left side is in a vice. It’s being pushed in from the street at the bottom and the way the handcuffs are manipulated … totally interfere with central features of how we breathe.”
• According to Tobin’s calculations, at one point, 91.5 pounds (41.5 kgs)—half of Chauvin's body weight and half the weight of his gear—was on Floyd's neck.
• For five minutes, Floyd was still talking—which meant “that his oxygen levels were enough to keep his brain alive.” That’s five minutes within which Chauvin could have removed his knee while Floyd begged him to stop.
• After five minutes, Floyd’s leg can be seen kicking out—a sign of a myotonic seizure caused by lack of oxygen, and evidence of brain damage.
• Tobin’s final conclusion: Floyd died of “low level of oxygen” that damaged his brain and led his heart to stop beating. He said: “It was almost to the effect that if a surgeon had gone in and removed the lung.”

The sentencing: Chauvin could face up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder, and up to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter. But the actual prison term is likely to be lower as Chauvin has no prior convictions:

“Minnesota's sentencing guidelines recommend about 12.5 years in prison for each murder charge and about four years for the manslaughter charge. The judge would ultimately decide the exact length and whether those would be served at the same time or back-to-back.”

The bottomline: was spelled out by President Joe Biden who accurately summed up the verdict in a televised address:

“This can be a giant step forward in the march towards justice in America. But let’s also be clear: such a verdict is also much too rare. It seems like it took a unique and extraordinary convergence of factors. A brave young woman with a smartphone camera. A crowd that was traumatised. Traumatised witnesses. A murder that lasts almost ten minutes in broad daylight. Officers standing up and testifying against a fellow officer instead of just closing ranks… For so many it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver just basic accountability.”

Reading list

The Guardian has the best overview of the verdict, and the responses to it. BBC News has the most details of the circumstances leading to Floyd’s death. New York Times sums up the arguments made by both sides. Also in the New York Times: Racial bias in forensic science. CNN explains the charges in detail, and the sentencing requirements.

The Guardian also has the most on Tobin’s testimony. Read the transcript of Biden’s speech, or watch it here.