Arrested for mr. Floyds death. First of all, thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the press. Myself and my friend mike freeman want to share information with you. I want to begin with a reminder. That is, we are here today because george floyd is not here. He should be here. He should be alive, but he is not. About nine days ago, the world watched floyd utter his very last words, i cant breathe. He pled for his life. The world heard him call out for mama and cried out, dont kill me. Two days ago, when i became the lead prosecutor in this murder, i asked for time to thoroughly review all the evidence in the case. We looked at the evidence that is available and the investigation is ongoing at this time. I also said that i know what is i know it is asking a lot of people to give us time, particularly people who have suffered for decades and centuries of injustice, to be patient. We did get that time. Together, a very strong , experienced team which included the county attorney mike freeman, his team, and my team. We reviewed the evidence together with the bca and have something to announce today. I want to say thank you for the team of thethe people in pursuit of justice. Im here to make these announcements right now. First, today, i filed an amended complaint. It charges former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Shaaban chauvin with murder in the Second Degree for the death of george floyd peered i believe the evidence available supports charge of seconddegree murder we have consulted with each other and agreed. Second, today, arrest warrants were issued for former Minneapolis Police officers ja king, thomas lane, and tao. Finally, today, the county attorney Michael Freeman and i filed a complaint which charges Police Officer king, lane and t ao, with aiding and abetting murder in the Second Degree, a felony defense. I believe that these developments are in the interest of justice for mr. Floyd, his family, our community, and our state. I am the lead prosecutor in this case. I will be speaking on addressing the public. This is absolutely a team effort. We are working together on this case with only one goal, justice for george floyd. I want to thank first the Hennepin County attorney, mr. Mike freeman who has been a true , partner in this matter at every step of the way. His experience and insight have been invaluable and will continue to be counted on by his team. I also want to thank county attorney freemans professional staff who have cooperated and worked together with my staff and the investigating officers from the very minute this case started. I also want to thank superintendent drew evans of the bureau of criminal apprehension and his professional staff for the care in speed with which they are conducting this investigation. I want to thank especially u. S. Attorney Erica Mcdonald and special agent in charge ringer in charge, who are conducting a parallel federal color of law investigation. Ive heard directly from the leadership of the department of justice that there is full support for her leadership in pursuit of her investigation. As she put it so well, one team, one goal, one mission. I agree 100 . As i said earlier, i think mr. Floyds family i can speak for mr. Freeman and i, we jointly thank them along with u. S. Attorney mcdonald. We thank the community for their patience, and allowing us time and space we need over these days to lay these charges. As it is so hard to do, i now ask for continued patience. This case continues to be under investigation. We will not be able to say very much publicly about the investigation. Except that we encourage anyone who believes that they have evidence in this case to come forward and to be cooperative with the investigation. As we develop the case for prosecution, which will also not be able to say very much publicly about because our job is to seek justice and obtain a conviction. Not to make statements in the press. We do our talking in court. I ask for your patience again while we limit our Public Comments in pursuit of justice. I also ask for your trust that we are pursuing justice by every legal and ethical means available to us. I also want to add a word of caution. The investigation is ongoing. We are following the path of all of the evidence. Wherever it leads. We are investigating as quickly as we can, because speed is important. We are also investigating as thoroughly as we can because being complete and thorough is critically important, but it takes time. The reason thoroughness is important is because every single link in the prosecutorial chain must be strong. It needs to be strong because trying this case will not be an easy thing. Winning a conviction will be hard. In fact, he is the only prosecutor in the state of minnesota who has successfully convicted a Police Officer for murder. He can tell you that its hard. I say this not because we doubt our resources or our ability. We are confident in what we are doing. History does show that there are clear challenges here and we are going to be working very hard and relying on each other and our Investigative Team partners in the community to support that endeavor. To the floyd family, to our beloved community, to everyone that is watching, i say, george floyd mattered. He was loved. His family was important. His life had value. We will seek justice for him and for you. We will find it. The very fact that we have filed these charges means we believe in them. What i do not believe is that one successful prosecution can rectify the hurt and loss that so many people feel. The solution to that pain will be slow and difficult work of constructing justice and fairness in our society. That work is a work of all of us. We dont need to wait for the resolution and investigation of this case to start that work. We need citizens, neighbors, leaders in government and faith communities, civil and human rights activists to begin rewriting the rules for a just society now. We need new policy and legislation and ways of thinking at the municipal, state, federal levels. The world of art and entertainment can use their cultural influence to inspire change that we need. Theres a role for all who dream a justice that we have not yet experienced. In the final analysis, a protest can shake a tree and make the fruit fall down. But, after that fruit is in reach, collecting it and making the jam must follow. The demonstrations and protests are dramatic and necessary. But building just institutions is more of a slow grind but equally important. We have to begin that work as well. We need your energy and we need everyones help right now. Thank you very much. We will take a few questions. Yes, maam . [inaudible] we believe we have a duty to charge the charges that fit the facts in this case. We have done so. So our concern is to put all the energy we can into putting forth the strongest case that we can without fear or favor of anyone or anything. These charges are based on the facts that we found and we will pursue them. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison the Hennepin County attorney did an excellent job by gathering facts and has us at cooperatively with every step of the way. We consulted with each other on these charges. We believe that these are the right charges. Mike freeman and i will sign the complaint for these additional charges. Thats what we are doing. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison unfortunately i cant delve into more , our deliberative process. I will tell you, we gathered all the facts that we could. We reviewed the criminal statutes. We looked at case law. We consulted with each other. We arrived at these charges. We believe they are justified by the facts and the law. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison pursuit of justice is always good and right. I want to signal to them that we hope they continue to raise the cause of justice, but do it in a peaceful manner. It is their right to express themselves. They should continue in their own communities to build just Police Community relationships. We need the Faith Community to be involved. We needs arts and entertainment to inspire us. We need everybody. There is a lot more to do than just this case. We ask people to do that. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison i want to thank you for asking that question because part of my setents were to help expectations in a realistic light. In order to be thorough, this is going to take months. I dont know how many, but it is better to make sure we have a solid case fully investigated, researched, before we go to trial than to rush it. It will take a while. I cant set a deadline on that. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison according to minnesota law, you have to have premeditation and deliberation to charge firstdegree murder. Seconddegree murder, you have to intend for death to be the result. For seconddegree felony murder, you have to intend the felony withouth be the result having necessarily it be the intent. That is the state of the law. The felony would we would contend george floyd was assaulted and that would be the underlying felony. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison i really dont have any idea of what negotiations or anything like that. That is way too early to begin this conversation. At this point, we are preparing to try this case. If something happens along the way, we will see. At this point, we dont have any plans in that direction. That is something i dont have any to report now. We are focused on investigating the case. At this time i will consult with the bca and other partners on the case. We will come to a conclusion. We believe in transparency, but we also believe in a thorough investigation. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison i will allow mr. Drew evans to address that issue. I am the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of middle apprehension. We are in the process of taken the taking the officers into custody. One is in custody and the other two we expect to be in custody this afternoon. [inaudible] mr. Evans we cant speak about the details in the case other than what is in the complaint. With any investigation, we have teams of investigators from the bca jointly investigating this with the fbi, trying to obtain all information. That is a regular course of all of our investigations. We have interviewed numerous individuals in this case and Additional Information will be provided as we move forward. Atty gen. Ellison at this time i believe we have a team to complete this work. I would like to introduce the deputy at the attorney generals office. He heads the criminal division. He has the lawyers to get this done. We have experience with the county attorneys office. Together. King on this [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison i can say i did not allow public pressure to impact our decisionmaking process. I was prepared to withstand whatever calls came. Decisions based on the facts we gathered since this matter occurred and made the charges based on the law that applies. That is my answer. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison it is going great. I spent a lot of time in the county when i was a trial lawyer myself. I know the lawyers. I respect them. We are doing fine. Can i introduce you . The head of the county attorneys office. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison no. I am going to let the people who prosecute cases every day prosecute this case. But on homicide cases, the other side of the courtroom. The people that know how to prosecute, i will let them do that work. Anticipatehelps me what some of the attacks on our case might be. [inaudible] see non. Ellison i reason why we cant get a fair trial here. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison yes. Yes sir . [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison no. I will continue to do all the duties i have which legislative. Thisve been active in civil space. I will good to be to supervise that. Eeleel comforted f havedent in it because i professionals focused on it every day. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison i feel a tremendous sense i feel this is a very serious moment. I take no joy in this, but i feel a tremendous sense of duty and responsibility. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison i dont know the answer to that question. Thehat is left up to various sheriffs that work on this that make security decisions in light of everything going on in the twin cities. Based those are decisions on the analysis of the sheriff. They work closely with the department of corrections to make sure everyone in custody where they should be based on safety assessments. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison thank you all very much. I will say to them that i pledge and promise to hold all everyone accountable for the behavior we can prove in a court, and if i did not charge havehat means we did not the facts. Devotionals, professional prosecutors, we are taking our duty seriously and working with the facts. We have done the work we believe is possible, ethical, and right. [inaudible] atty gen. Ellison let me be honest. Our country has under prosecuted these matters in minnesota and throughout the country. Is historically not Holding People who are public guardians accountable for their behavior in situations where we should have. That i think is the origin of the trust problem. We cant control the past. All we can do is take the case in front of us now and do our good faith best to bring justice to this situation, and we will. [inaudible] here is a look at live coverage thursday. At 10 00 eastern on cspan, the Senate Judiciary committee continues its review of the pfizer application process relatedlication process to the bush investigation. On cspan two russia investigation. On cspan 2, the u. S. Senate considers the head of the agency for global media, which backs International Broadcast outlets. Cdc,span3, the head of the dr. Robert redfield, testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee about the federal response to the coronavirus. A. M. Gets underway at 11 00 eastern. At the pentagon wednesday, defense secretary mark esper talk about nationwide protests, saying he did not support the use of active duty forces in a Law Enforcement role. Secretary esper spoke about his involvement in a photo op with the president at the historic st. Johns this couple church after demonstrators were dispersed. This News Conference runs 20 minutes. Well, good morning, everyone. Over the past couple of days there has been a fair share of reporting, some good, some bad, about what is transpiring in our great nation. And the role that the department of defense and its leaders. I want to take a few minutes to address the issues in person to make clear the facts and offer
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