The trial of Derek Chauvin, who is charged with the killing of George Floyd after he knelt on his neck for approximately nine minutes, begins today (March 29).
Nearly a year after Floyd's death in May 2020, the incident that saw former police officer Chauvin detain the unarmed Black man will be scrutinized by a jury of six white women, three Black men, two multi-racial women, three white men, and one Black woman, per the BBC.
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, with a sentence of up to 40 years in prison, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, CBS News reports. He has pleaded not guilty.
Related - This is how the community in Minneapolis responded to Floyd's tragic death last year:The 45-year-old who was one of four officers involved in the incident was ultimately fired from the police.
As reported by the BBC, 12 members of the jury in addition to back-up jurors will not be seen during the televised trial taking place in Minneapolis and thus will retain their anonymity.
The outlet also reports that one back-up juror was expected to be dismissed today and that the trial would go ahead with the current jurors and the current two back-up jurors.
The jurors were required to fill out questionnaires detailing what they knew of the case, any contact they'd had with police previously, and their media habits.
Ten of the jurors are under the age of 50, five are in their 50s or older, the youngest is in their 20s and the oldest is in their 60s.
It is believed that in the early stages of the trial, the prosecuting team will show footage of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, which sparked out outrage around the world last year.
In order to ensure the ex-cop is convicted, the prosecutors must demonstrate that his behavior during the incident was a "substantial causal factor" in the 45-year-old's death.
Chauvin's defense lawyers, on the other hand, will be drawing attention to the fact that Floyd had taken drugs before the incident, which they say may have been a contributing factor in his passing, in addition to his underlying health conditions.
Floyd's death last year sparked a wave of Black Lives Matter protests after a video taken by bystanders circulated online showing Chauvin relentlessly kneeling on the man's neck despite him telling the officer that he couldn't breathe more than 20 times.
Floyd was being arrested after a shop assistant called the police claiming he had used a counterfeit $20 bill for a packet of cigarettes he refused to give back.
Chauvin's trial over his involvement in Floyd's death is expected to last about four weeks.