The murder trial over George Floyd’s death began in a court in Minneapolis, 10 months after the killing set off protests across US and triggered a reckoning over racial justice around the world.
The accused former police officer, Derek Chauvin, is charged with manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder for holding his knee on Floyd’s neck on a Minneapolis street corner in May before he died.
The case will focus on the cause of death. In opening arguments, the defense said Floyd’s death was caused by his underlying heart ailment, drug use and “the adrenaline flowing through his body”. Prosecutors on the other hand played video footage shot by a bystander of Chauvin holding his knee on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes. The prosecution argued that Chauvin had used more force than was reasonable.
The racial makeup of the 12 jurors too has been closely watched. The group includes two white men, four white women, three Black men, one Black women and two women who identify as mixed race.
A longtime civil rights activist, Al Sharpton, outside the courthouse said “America is on trial to see if we have gotten to the place where we can hold police accountable if they break the law”.
