Fate of Ex-Officer Derek Chauvin Rests in Minneapolis Jury's Hands

The jurors who sat off-camera through three weeks of draining testimony in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial in George Floyd’s death were in the spotlight Tuesday, still out of sight but now in control of verdicts awaited by a skittish city.

The jury of six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial resumed deliberations in the morning.

Anonymous by order of the judge and sequestered now until they reach a verdict, they spent just a few hours on their task Monday after the day was mostly consumed by closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong.

The defense contended that the now-fired white officer acted reasonably and that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a heart condition and illegal drug use.

In Washington, meanwhile, President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he is “praying the verdict is the right verdict” and that he believes the case to be “overwhelming.” He also said he called Floyd’s family on Monday and “can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they’re feeling.”

The president has repeatedly denounced Floyd’s death but had previously stopped short of weighing in on the trial itself.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, all of which require the jury to conclude that his actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable.

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

“Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher said in closing arguments at the widely televised trial, referring to the bystander video of Floyd pinned to the pavement with Chauvin’s knee on or close to his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as onlookers yelled at the officer to get off.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson countered by arguing that Chauvin did what any reasonable police officer would have done after finding himself in a “dynamic” and “fluid” situation involving a large man struggling with three officers.

With the case drawing to a close, some stores were boarded up in Minneapolis. The courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard troops were on patrol. Floyd’s death set off protests last spring in the city and across the U.S. that sometimes turned violent.

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