Category Archives: US crime

Derek Chauvin found guilty of murder of George Floyd

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Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder for killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, a crime that prompted waves of protests in support of racial justice in the US and across the world.

The jury swiftly and unanimously convicted Chauvin of all the charges he faced – second- and third-degree murder, and manslaughter – after concluding that the white former Minneapolis police officer killed the 46-year-old Black man in May through a criminal assault, by pinning him to the ground so he could not breathe.

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‘We are able to breathe again’: George Floyd’s family reacts to Derek Chauvin verdict – video

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Members of George Floyd’s family choked back tears while speaking of their relief that the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in their brother's death. ‘Today, we are able to breathe again,’ George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd told reporters. The Floyd family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, said they were leaving the court knowing ‘that America is a better country’

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Will the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict change policing in America?

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George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer touched off a new civil rights uprising that rippled across the world

The jury’s guilty verdict on the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd signaled the conclusion of a historic police brutality trial and a key moment for policing and for the battle for racial equality in America.

Observers have talked about this case being so significant that it will stand as a watershed between the way law enforcement was held to account in the US before George Floyd was pinned by the neck under Chauvin’s knee, and after.

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Derek Chauvin trial: prosecution and defence make closing arguments – video

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The Derek Chauvin murder trial heard closing arguments on Monday before the jury was expected to begin considering a verdict over the death of George Floyd that is anxiously awaited by millions of Americans. The prosecutor Steve Schleicher told jurors the key to the case lay in video footage of Chauvin pressing his knee on to Floyd’s neck, even as he pleaded for his life, right to his last words of 'I can’t breathe'. The former Minneapolis police officer’s attorney, Eric Nelson, told the jury that his client's actions followed the 'reasonable force' guidelines for police officers when considering all the factors that Chauvin had to take into account on the day of Floyd's death

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Maxine Waters criticised by Republicans for Minneapolis remarks – video

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The Democratic representative Maxine Waters has come under criticism from the Republican house minority leader, after she expressed support for protesters against police brutality at a rally on Saturday in Brooklyn Center, the Minneapolis suburb where Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by police last week.

Waters said she would 'continue to fight in every way that I can for justice', prompting the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to accuse Waters of 'inciting violence in Minneapolis'

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Derek Chauvin trial: defense and prosecution to make closing arguments – live

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Court has just reconvened this morning in the case against Derek Chauvin. Closing arguments are expected to begin soon.

Jurors will begin deliberating when closings end. The judge in Chauvin’s case, Peter Cahill, is now giving jurors instructions on the law for when they start deliberating, such as how they are to weigh evidence.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the Derek Chauvin trial. Closing arguments in the murder case against the former Minneapolis police officer are scheduled to begin at 9am local time in Minneapolis.

Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police department officer, faces charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the 25 May 2020 death of George Floyd. During an arrest, Chauvin pressed his knee against the neck of Floyd, who was Black, for nine minutes and 29 seconds.

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Three people dead in ‘active shooting incident’ in Austin, Texas

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Police urged residents in the vicinity to stay inside while a manhunt was under way

Three people were shot dead in Austin on Sunday, authorities in Texas said. No suspects were in custody.

Law enforcement officials closed off roadways in the Great Hills Trail and Rain Creek Parkway area of the city for an “active shooting incident”, according to a tweet from the city’s police department.

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George Floyd killing: protests flare as Americans await verdict in Chauvin trial

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Outcome is expected to resonate nationwide, particularly in cities that have seen continuing demonstrations over police violence

Protests against police killings flared across the US this weekend, from Minneapolis to Chicago to Portland, as Americans wait for a verdict in the trial of the white police officer charged with murdering George Floyd last year.

Closing arguments are expected in the Derek Chauvin trial on Monday. The most serious charge the former Minneapolis officer is facing in Floyd’s death is second-degree murder, but the jury might choose to find him guilty on third-degree murder or manslaughter, or acquit him altogether.

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Indianapolis shooting: gunman bought two rifles after police seized his shotgun

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Brandon Hole bought assault weapons he used in attack months after his shotgun was confiscated over mental health concerns

A gunman who murdered eight people at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis legally purchased the two semi-automatic rifles he used in the attack, months after a shotgun he owned was confiscated by police over concerns around his mental health.

Brandon Hole, 19, who killed himself at the conclusion of the massacre, bought the two assault weapons in July and September 2020, according to Indianapolis metropolitan police chief Randal Taylor, after the shotgun was taken from him in March following a call from his mother concerned at his mental state.

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Daunte Wright and George Floyd: another chapter in America’s recurring tragedy

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The latest instance of a Black man killed by a police officer added fuel to the fire already burning in Minneapolis

It was shortly after midday on Thursday at the New Salem Missionary Baptist church in Minneapolis. In front of a towering stone facade, Katie Wright stood at the pulpit, almost dwarfed by the plexiglass lectern and mass of microphones in front of her. She shuddered with grief, held by members of her family.

Five days earlier, her son, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old father of one, had been shot and killed by a single bullet fired by a white police officer in the city suburb of Brooklyn Center. Four nights of unrest had followed with hundreds of protesters clashing with police dressed in riot gear, pelting crowds with teargas and rubber bullets.

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Derek Chauvin trial: officer’s brief defense could reflect confidence … or lack of credibility

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After a dramatic final week, all that is left is closing statements and jury decisions

The prosecution took 10 days to lay out its case against Derek Chauvin. The former Minneapolis police officer’s defense to the charges of murdering George Floyd barely lasted two.

The relative brevity of Chauvin’s case might reflect a confidence on the part of the defense that the evidence against him is easily picked apart or at least shaky enough to raise reasonable doubt with the jury.

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Far-right Oath Keepers member is first suspect to plead guilty in US Capitol riot

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Jon Ryan Schaffer gave a guilty plea in hopes of getting a lighter sentence and will be considered for a witness security program

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and heavy metal guitarist has become the first defendant to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with the insurrection at the US Capitol.

Jon Ryan Schaffer, the frontman of the band Iced Earth, has agreed on Friday to cooperate with investigators in hopes of getting a lighter sentence, and the Justice Department will consider putting Schaffer in the federal witness security program, a US district judge said.

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George Floyd killing: defense rests case after Derek Chauvin declines to testify

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Both sides will make closing arguments on Monday and the case over the death of George Floyd will then go to the jury

Derek Chauvin declined to testify in his murder trial over the killing of George Floyd as the defence wrapped up its case after just two days of testimony.

Chauvin invoked his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination as he sacrificed the chance to explain to the jury why he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes and for his lawyers to paint a more sympathetic picture of the police officer. But he also avoided a minute interrogation of his actions and thinking by the prosecution’s cross-examination.

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Derek Chauvin trial: defense claims bad heart and drug use killed George Floyd

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Dr David Fowler, testifying for the defense, also said vehicle exhaust may have played a part in Floyd’s death

A leading forensic pathologist has told the Derek Chauvin trial that George Floyd was killed by his heart condition and drug use.

Dr David Fowler, testifying for the defence, also introduced the idea that vehicle exhaust may have played a part in Floyd’s death by raising the amount of carbon monoxide in his blood and affecting his heart.

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Bernie Madoff, financier behind largest Ponzi scheme in history, dies in prison

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  • Fraudster sentenced to 150 years in jail dies from natural causes
  • New York financier ran scheme that cheated investors of billions

Bernard Madoff, the one-time Wall Street titan who orchestrated one of the largest frauds in history, has died in prison aged 82.

Madoff, known as Bernie, was a former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange, and was regarded for years as an investment sage. But unbeknown to his thousands of victims, he was running a Ponzi scheme that wiped out at least $17.5bn in savings.

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Harvey Weinstein indicted on sexual assault charges in California

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Former film producer, who is currently incarcerated in New York, faces possible extradition for alleged attacks on five women

Harvey Weinstein has been indicted in California on sexual assault charges, one of his lawyers said on Monday, as the former film producer appeared in a New York court proceeding over whether to extradite him.

The 69-year-old Weinstein appeared by video from the Wende correctional facility, near Buffalo, before a judge on the Erie county court.

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Police say officer who shot and killed unarmed Daunte Wright intended to fire Taser

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Brooklyn Center police chief describes fatal shooting of Black man, 20, as result of ‘accidental discharge’ from handgun

Police in a Minneapolis suburb said an officer accidentally shot and killed a 20-year-old Black man on Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop, releasing graphic body-camera footage they say shows the officer intended to use a Taser not a handgun during the death of unarmed Daunte Wright.

Related: ‘They didn’t have to kill him’: anger and outrage as locals mourn Daunte Wright

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Ghislaine Maxwell: prosecutors defend new indictment as July trial looms

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  • Defense complains of ‘gamesmanship’ and may seek trial delay
  • Arraignment on new charges due in New York this month

Prosecutors in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell have defended a late expansion of charges against her, saying it became necessary because a woman spoke after the Briton’s arrest about abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.

Related: Ghislaine Maxwell faces new charges, including sex trafficking of a minor

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Biden condemns US gun violence as ‘international embarrassment’ – video

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In his first gun control measures since taking office, Joe Biden announced a half-dozen executive actions aimed at addressing the proliferation of gun violence across the nation that he called an ‘epidemic and an international embarrassment’. Greeting the families of gun violence victims and activists in the Rose Garden, Biden thanked them for their presence and continued action. And he assured them: ‘We’re absolutely determined to make change.’ But the announcement underscores the limitations of Biden’s executive power to act on guns, facing as he is an evenly divided Senate, where Republicans remain near-unified against most proposals

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Derek Chauvin trial: testimony resumes after police expert says use of force ‘not reasonable’ – live

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Shortly after Tobin has taken the stand, he gives his opinion on Floyd’s cause-of-death: “Mr Floyd died from a low-level of oxygen and this caused damage to his brain...and it also caused a [pulseless electrical activity] arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop.”

“The cause of the low-level of oxygen was shallow breathing, small breaths...shallow breaths that weren’t able to carry the air through his lungs down to the essential areas [in] his lungs,” Tobin says in response to further questions, noting shortly thereafter: “There are a number of forces that led to the size of his breath became so small.”

The Chauvin trial testimony has resumed.

Prosecutors have called their first witness of the day: Dr Martin Tobin, an expert in critical care and pulmonology.

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