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Derek Chauvin found guilty of murdering George Floyd and and now faces life in prison
Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of murdering George Floyd.
The jury found the former police officer guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder.
Chauvin now faces spending the rest of his life in prison.
Jurors reached their verdict after deliberating for more than 10 and a half hours following a trial which lasted over three weeks.
According to Sky News, US correspondent Sally Lockwood said that the jury reached its verdict with "very little doubts in their minds".
She told the broadcaster: "The fact that the jury has taken around 11 hours of deliberation does suggest there's been very little doubt in their minds.
"It's not a hung jury... they certainly have agreed on the ruling they're about to deliver in court."
Chauvin had denied the charges against him, claiming that Floyd's cause of death was heart disease and drug use.
During the trial, the 45-year-old former police officer invoked his fifth amendment right and choose not to testify.
Other key moments in the lead-up to the verdict include veteran dectective Lieutenant Richard Zimmerman testifying that the force used on George Floyd during his arrest was "totally unnecessary".
"Once the person is cuffed, the threat level goes down all the way," the department's top detective, who's been at the Minneapolis Police Department since 1985, told those present at the trial.
The trial also saw some incredibly moving testimonies from witnesses, including a teenager named Darnella Frazier, who was 17 at the time of Floyd's death.
Frazier had filmed the video in which Chauvin was seen kneeling on Floyd's neck. The teen tearfully shared that she would stay up at night "apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life".
She said: "When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad. I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles. Because they are all Black.
Floyd's girlfriend Courteney Ross also testified, telling the jury that she and her late partner of three years suffered chronic pain, which led to a troubling opioid addiction.
"We got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction many times," she said at the trial.
The former Minnesota police officer was charged with the killing of George Floyd after he knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes in May 2020.
Floyd, who had previously worked as a security guard but lost his job due to the Covid-19 pandemic, died on May 25, 2020.
He died after four police officers were called to a grocery store in Powderhorn Park after Floyd, 46, was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill for a packet of cigarettes.