How can I watch the trial?

The Washington Post will provide live gavel-to-gavel coverage of Chauvin’s trial on our website and on YouTube. Post staffers will anchor live special reports from the courthouse with analysis of the trial and interviews with reporters during key moments in the proceedings, beginning with opening arguments. Chauvin’s trial is being held at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, with strict limitations on who is allowed in the courtroom. Court TV is operating the only three cameras inside the room, which will feed to various networks and news outlets, including The Post. Those cameras will be aimed at the judge, the witness stand, and the prosecution and defense tables. Court TV has said it will broadcast and live-stream the trial for 14 hours a day for the duration, beginning each day with the opening gavel at 9 a.m. Eastern/8 a.m. Central. Chauvin’s trial marks the first time in Minnesota that a judge has authorized cameras to show a full criminal trial. Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter A. Cahill has said he agreed to allow the cameras because of intense public interest in the case and coronavirus restrictions that have limited courtroom access. “Not only is [the situation] abnormal — it is, in fact, quite unique,” Cahill said.

What charges does Chauvin face?

Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police department, is charged with second-degree unintentional murder , third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter . On the murder charges, prosecutors will have to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin’s actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death while assaulting him. Prosecutors do not have to prove those actions were “the sole cause of death” or “the specific mechanism of death,” according to an October court memo from Judge Cahill . On the manslaughter charge, they will have to prove Chauvin took an “unreasonable risk” when he restrained Floyd and that his actions directly contributed to Floyd’s death. State sentencing guidelines on the each murder charge suggest roughly 11 years in prison for someone with no criminal history. The manslaughter charge carries a presumptive sentence of roughly four years in prison. However, a judge is allowed to sentence someone to more or less prison time. Prosecutors have asked for a tougher sentence, arguing that Floyd was killed in front of children. The other officers — Kueng, Lane and Thao — are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.

How was the jury selected?

Cahill began the jury process far earlier than usual. In late December, prospective jurors in Hennepin County were mailed a 16-page questionnaire asking about their views on policing, the criminal justice system and movements such as Black Lives Matter. The survey provided several blank pages for long answers and asked potential jurors to disclose everything they know about the case, including how many times, if any, they viewed videos of Floyd’s arrest. It asked whether they participated in protests after Floyd’s death and what their signs said. The jury pool included roughly 330 people — about six times the number of people usually summoned for a criminal case in Hennepin County. Over 11 days, the court and attorneys examined 131 jurors — including roughly 70 who were questioned in the courtroom. Two jurors seated in the case were dismissed after they told the judge they could no longer be impartial toward Chauvin after news of a $27 million civil settlement between the Floyd family and the city of Minneapolis. On March 23, jury selection was completed — with a panel of 12 jurors and three alternates. But on March 29, Cahill dismissed the last juror citing pandemic social distancing rules that have limited the number of people allowed in the courtroom. The final panel of 14 includes one Black woman, two multiracial women, two White men, three Black men and six White women. Six are under 40 years old.

What is Chauvin’s defense?

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney, said in an October court filing that he’ll argue that his client is not guilty because he acted in self-defense and used reasonable and authorized force as a police officer. He fought to introduce evidence of Floyd’s criminal history, a move strenuously opposed by prosecutors. Cahill called Floyd’s history irrelevant to the case, but he later reversed himself and allowed Nelson to cite limited details of a 2019 interaction between Floyd and Minneapolis police. One of the most integral aspects of Chauvin’s defense is Nelson’s argument that Floyd died of the drugs found in his system and other underlying health problems, including heart disease. Hennepin County Medical Examiner Andrew Baker formally declared Floyd’s death a homicide, listing “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” as the cause of death. But the report also listed heart disease, fentanyl intoxication, recent methamphetamine use and Floyd’s bout with covid-19 as other “significant conditions.” According to notes filed as evidence, the medical examiner told prosecutors that if Floyd had been “found dead at home alone and no other apparent causes,” it would have been “acceptable” to call his death an overdose. But, Baker added, “I am not saying this killed him.”

What is the evidence against Chauvin?

The evidence includes the viral video shot by Darnella Frazier, the 17-year-old who filmed Chauvin and the other officers as they restrained Floyd and who is listed as a prospective witness in the case. It will also include videos from body cameras worn by Kueng, Lane and Thao. Chauvin’s body camera fell off during the struggle with Floyd and captured only audio of the encounter, according to sources close to the case. Prosecutors sought to introduce past incidents in which Chauvin used force as a police officer, including several arrests in which he used a neck restraint similar to the one he used on Floyd. But Cahill has allowed mention of just two past incidents, though the prosecution’s witness list includes several individuals who encountered Chauvin during his time on the force.

Prosecutors released a list of more than 300 possible witnesses, and Chauvin’s defense disclosed more than 200 people it could call to the stand. Several names appear on both lists, including Frazier and several people who observed the events at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, where Floyd died. Both sides have signaled their intent to call Baker, the medical examiner, who will be grilled about his cause-of-death determination. They have also listed several Minneapolis police officers, including Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who will probably be questioned about police training. There are dozens of potential expert witnesses on the lists, including forensic pathologists and use-of-force experts. Prosecutors have indicated that they will call several close Floyd associates, including his brother Philonise and his former girlfriend Courteney Ross, who could be asked to humanize Floyd’s struggles with opioid abuse. Prosecutors said they could call Kueng, Lane and Thao as potential witnesses — though their attorneys have indicated they will decline to testify, citing their constitutional right against self-incrimination. Chauvin also has the right to testify at his own trial, but there has been no indication that he will.

How long will the trial take?

Opening statements began March 29, with testimony expected to last at least four weeks. Parties in the case believe a jury could begin deliberating in late April or early May.

Will there be protests?

Scores of community activists organized marches and other peaceful protests as the trial began. They have said they plan to hold vigils outside the courthouse and other parts of the Twin Cities throughout the duration of the trial. City, county and state officials began planning for trial security last summer, seeking to prevent a repeat of the civil unrest that damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings across Minneapolis, including a police station. They have reinforced the courthouse with blocks of concrete barriers, multiple layers of security fencing and barbed wire. At least 2,000 National Guard troops have been called to join at least 1,100 law enforcement officers from across the region that will guard the courthouse and other parts of the city. Some city council members and other activists have questioned the intense security, worried that it could incite unrest rather than prevent it and that it sends a message suggesting the city believes Chauvin will be acquitted.

What led to George Floyd’s encounter with police?

Police responded to a 911 call on May 25 from a clerk at Cup Foods, a South Minneapolis convenience store, claiming that a customer had passed a counterfeit $20 bill. When Kueng and Lane arrived at the scene, an employee pointed out Floyd, who was sitting in a parked car across the street. Lane pulled a gun on Floyd within 15 seconds of encountering him in the driver’s seat, prompting the man to panic and beg officers not to kill him. The officers handcuffed Floyd, but he resisted getting in a squad car, telling the officers he was claustrophobic and had recently had covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Chauvin and Thao arrived during the struggle and began assisting Lane and Kueng, rookie officers who were barely a week into the job. At Thao’s suggestion, they placed Floyd on the street, holding him facedown. Lane held Floyd’s legs, Kueng held his back and Chauvin restrained him with a knee to the neck as Floyd complained of struggling to breathe, ultimately losing his pulse.

How long did Chauvin hold his knee at Floyd’s neck?

In the May 29 arrest complaint against Chauvin, prosecutors with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, which originally handled the case before it was turned over to the state attorney general, said the former officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, citing police body-camera footage that had not yet been made public. But some media organizations questioned this calculation, pointing to time stamps of the video mentioned in the arrest complaint, and a spokesman for the county attorney later amended the time to 7 minutes and 46 seconds. But police body-camera footage released publicly in July showed Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, a calculation later reaffirmed by Cahill, who timed it at more than 9 minutes and 20 seconds in a ruling last fall. In opening statements, both prosecution and defense timed it at 9 minutes and 29 seconds . Body-camera video shows Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly three minutes after Kueng told him he could not detect a pulse, lifting it only when a paramedic nudged him.

Who will be in the courtroom, and what about the coronavirus?

Cahill had originally ordered all four officers to be tried together, a decision that was scuttled after court officials decided that the courtroom was not big enough to allow for social distancing. The jury box and public gallery have been removed to create more space, and only about 30 people will be allowed in the room — all ordered to limit movement and wear masks. Jurors are seated six feet apart, and the prosecution and defense are each limited to four people in the room. Chauvin and his lawyer sit together, while the prosecution, which has a team of 14 lawyers working on the case, rotate people in and out of the courtroom throughout the day. Instead approaching the bench for a sidebar, Cahill, the attorneys and Chauvin wear headsets to communicate — as the judge turns on a white noise machine to mask their conversation from others in the room. Three members of the media are allowed inside the room: a print pool reporter, a television pool reporter and a producer for Court TV. One member of the Floyd family and one associate of Chauvin’s each have a seat. Prosecutors had asked to delay the proceedings until the summer, when more Americans will be vaccinated, but Cahill refused. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) rejected requests to vaccinate trial participants, arguing the proceedings were no riskier than other recent trials that have been held. Steven Zeitchik contributed to this report.

Chauvin murder trial: What to know as the first officer is tried in George Floyd’s death

Derek Chauvin is facing second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges

By Holly Bailey

March 30, 2021 at 9:22 a.m. EDT

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is facing second and third-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the May 2020 death of George Floyd. (Video: Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post)

The first trial in the death of George Floyd is underway. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer filmed with his knee on Floyd’s neck in May, faces murder and manslaughter charges for the encounter that sparked months of historic protests around the world.

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The trial has been described as one of the most important in the nation’s history, a potential barometer of change in a country where police officers are rarely punished for abusive behavior and fatal tactics used on the job.

Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died May 25 after he spent several minutes crying out for breath underneath Chauvin’s knee on a South Minneapolis street. Chauvin, who is White, was the senior officer on the scene responding to a store clerk’s claim that a customer passed a counterfeit $20 bill. The 44-year-old veteran officer led others in holding down Floyd until he lost consciousness and a pulse. The final minutes of Floyd’s life were captured on a teenage girl’s viral cellphone video.

George Floyd’s America: Examining systemic racism and racial injustice in the post-civil rights era

Testimony in the Chauvin case is expected to last about four weeks — with the jury expected to begin deliberations in late April or early May. A trial for the three other officers implicated in Floyd’s death — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — is scheduled for August.

Here’s what you need to know about the trial as it unfolds.

Chauvin murder trial: What to know as the first officer is tried in George Floyd’s death

Derek Chauvin is facing second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges

The Derek Chauvin trial: What you need to know