As frozen in the cold and expectation, the heart of Minneapolis (Minnesota) stopped beating. In the wide avenues of the city center battered by a particularly unseasonable winter wind, only the roar of screwdrivers and the dull thuds of hammers disturb the silence. From time to time, workers are busy protecting the rare windows still uncovered with large plywood panels.
Facing the town hall with the false air of a castle, high fences, concrete blocks and rolls of barbed wire prohibit access to the city court, guarded by soldiers and police. On the upper floors, the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer accused of the murder of George Floyd, whose death, filmed live, sparked protests around the world in the spring of 2020, has been held for three weeks.
The hearings ended Thursday, April 15 and the authorities fear unrest at the announcement of the verdict, expected before the end of the month. The climate in the city and its surroundings has become even more tense in recent days, following the death on Sunday of Daunte Wright, a young mixed-race man killed by a white police officer during a traffic check in Brooklyn Center, a few kilometers away. .
The outcome of the case remains uncertain
Despite a prosecution trial conducted with application by the prosecution once morest Mr. Chauvin, the outcome of this extraordinary case remains uncertain, unanimously submitted to a jury of twelve people. “Several hypotheses are possible: the annulment of the trial if unanimity is not reached, a conviction with the possibility of appeal, an acquittal without the possibility of appeal”explains David Schultz, professor of law at the University of Minnesota.
Outside the walls of the court, on the other hand, the case is heard. “Chauvin must rot in prison, then rot in hell”, proclaims a graffiti a stone’s throw from the building. South of the city, between the flowers and the candles that dot the corner of asphalt where George Floyd died under the knee of the policeman, the same certainty is displayed.
“A murder with a badge [de policier] remains a murder”defends a sign placed once morest a teddy bear. “Chauvin is a murderer”also proclaim stickers affixed in the neighborhood. This conviction is unambiguously shared by Chloe Jackson, who strolls on Wednesday between messages asking “justice for George Floyd”.
This association manager, whose offices adjoin the crossroads transformed into a motley memorial dedicated to the victims of police violence, however, has few illusions. “Whatever it is, the verdict will not live up to my expectationsexplains the African-American mother. Because the charges once morest Chauvin are not up to the drama. » The officer is charged with second and third degree murder and manslaughter. Like many, the thirty-year-old, with a calm and restrained tone, would have liked him to be prosecuted for intentional homicide.
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