Barack Obama, Cardi B, More React to Guilty Verdict in Derek Chauvin Trial

After a two-week trial, former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all charges Tuesday, after a jury found him guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the murder of George Floyd.

The former Minneapolis officer, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes last May, now faces up to 40 years in prison.

In the early days of the trial, the jury heard MMA fighter Donald Williams explain that he told Chauvin that he had Floyd in a “blood choke.” The following days featured statements from the teen who filmed the video of Floyd’s death, a convenience store worker who felt guilty following Floyd’s death, Floyd’s girlfriend, and a police lieutenant who said Chauvin’s actions were “totally unnecessary.”

Scientists and experts took the stand later on, such as an LAPD use-of-force-expert, Jody Stiger, who said Floyd “was not attempting to resist.” A Pulmonologist, Dr. Martin Tobin, also took the stand, explaining that Floyd “died from a low level of oxygen,” and that his respiratory rate did not point to fentanyl as being his cause of death. 

Toward the later days in the trial, Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd took the stand, as Chauvin himself later on invoked the fifth amendment and did not take the stand. 

After the guilty verdict was announced, it felt like there was a collective exhale all across the country. And while no one is deluding themselves that today’s verdict means the system is fixed, many people acknowledged that it was ast least a small step in the right direction. 

Here’s what those on social media, ranging from activists to notable public figures, had to say about the guilty verdict.