Washington DC., SAEDNEWS: A few hundred demonstrators gathered on Monday outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, where the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, charged in the death of George Floyd, is set to begin this month.
Many protesters expressed anxiety about whether Chauvin would be convicted in Minnesota’s first publicly broadcast trial, which will make it one of the most widely watched police brutality cases in recent history.
But they pledged to maintain their demand for Chauvin’s conviction.
“We’re going to continue showing up for community,” said Minneapolis NAACP Vice President Anika Bowie. “We understand that justice will prevail within us. We will show up, and we will be very persistent, challenging the system.”
Jury selection was originally set to begin on Monday, but a court ruling that the judge must consider adding a third-degree murder charge pushed it to at least Tuesday.
Chauvin currently faces second-degree murder and manslaughter charges after kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest in May 2020 that was captured on video.
Three other officers, who did not intervene as Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe, will be tried together in August on aiding and abetting charges.
Lawyers for Chauvin, who was fired from the police force the day after Floyd’s death, have argued that he correctly followed his training, Reuters news agency reported.
An unusually long period of three weeks has been allotted for finding an impartial jury – a likely arduous task.
The questionnaire for prospective jurors includes questions about their prior knowledge of the case, which spurred mass demonstrations for racial justice across the United States and around the world (Source: AlJazeera).
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