George Floyd

The 11 man jury,as one had been dismissed for showing bias to the accused

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Presumably a 12 person jury, @Eddie. But an easy mistake to make :stuck_out_tongue:

When were women admitted to jury service? :thinking:

Yes you’re right Peter ,so sorry Peter ,please can you forgive me Peter I meant 11 member jury

Not picking on you, Eddie :hugs:, but unconscious bias affects us all, and if I slip into it, I appreciate having it pointed out, as my family often do to me.

It is a chastening experience, but one I have learned to respect. Being the 20% segment of a “non-White” family has taught me a bit of humility where unconscious bias is concerned. And it is a life-long task. White privilege (and male chauvinism) is still endemic.

I did notice that even in the Crown Prosecution Service ruling I quoted it spoke of ‘a police or prison officer in the course of his duty’.

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I tend to think that the Media do not tell the whole story & whilst not actually altering facts, effectively change an aspect of a story purely by omitting what can be quite pertinent.

I seem not to be the only one & the George Floyd story presents an interesting case. I found this & I wonder how real this actually is?

I can’t see your link or image Mark.
But by chance there was a follow-up article in Black Lives Matter and ‘cancel culture’ by David Olusoga in today’s Observer:

Verdict expected in the trial of Derek Chauvin in the next half an hour or so.
Izzy x

Apparently the Jury have reached their verdict, we’re just expecting the announcement.

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Guilty on all 3 charges.

As he should be :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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By all accounts the prosecution handled the trial very well (perhaps not flawlessly but with plenty of compelling evidence and competent cross examination of defence witnesses).

But, yeah, guilty as hell.

Sentencing in 8 weeks, apparently.

I think the verdict was inevitable. A not guilty one would have given the excuse for violent protests & looting which seems to have become the acceptable way of showing displeasure nowadays.

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The 2nd degree murder charge was always a “stretch goal” for the prosecution, but Chauvin was bang to rights on the other 2 charges.

I tried to answer that you can click on the image & it should play the video. George Floyd “could not breath” long before he was held down.

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The police officer lent on the man’s neck for too long. None of that body cam video is exculpatory so I am pleased that the jury came to the right conclusion.

That doesn’t matter, the point is that he died after an overlong restraint with pressure to his neck. Even the defence witnesses agreed only the first couple of minutes’ restraint was necessary.

It’s a sound conviction (even though I still can’t get my head round the “top” charge - if it’s unintentional, how can it be murder?).

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There seems to be a theme with all these police shootings - the victim was not co-operating with the police & often resisting arrest.
In a split second an armed police officer has do decide the best method of neutralizing any threat to themselves & others in a society where guns are easy to obtain.
It doesn’t matter how much training they might have at the end of the day when it is a “you or them” situation, I imagine that “you” becomes mightily important!
Floyd had a record of violence with a gun & drug abuse, not the angel some want to depict.
I’m not arguing the policeman’s case because I was not there nor have I followed the court case but I think that Floyd should not be held up as an innocent victim quite so readily as he seems to be.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-statistics-on-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty

Floyd wasn’t shot he was knelt on for nine minutes