Be. As obvious as that video was, if it wasnt for the governor appointing a special prosecutor, this day may never have come. So tonight, there is a collective sigh of relief, especially from the floyd family. They are vowing to keep up their fight against systemic racial inequality. I feel relieved today that i finally have the opportunity for hopefully getting some sleep. Its been a long journey as my brother was murdered. Times are getting harder every day. Ten miles away from here, mr. Wright, daunte wright, he should still be here. We will have to do this for life. Im going to put up a fight every day because im not just fighting for george anymore, im fighting for everybody around this world. Today we are able to breathe its a big enough occasion that President Biden addressed the nation after the verdict. He says we can and we must do more. Systemic racism is a stain on our nations soul. We cant stop here. In order to deliver real change in reform, we can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that a tragedy like this will ever happen or occur again. Now, weve heard this before, but weve never been here before. This is just one case. But what will it lead to . We never saw a verdict like this. We never saw protests like this. We never saw the shot from white people to the footage joining the cause as they did here. So now we ask, will the majority see the need for change beyond this one verdict . Will the shock from when we saw george floyd pinned down for so long, will it fade . Will people think this was enough or will it foster change . And, again, that means will the majority, will White America feel enough of a connection to this behavior, to this wrong, to this man and this problem that the call for change is not just shouted from the affected Minority Community but echoed everywhere. Only then can this society improve how it polices for the men and women doing the job and for the people they serve and protect. We know it is way past time, but is this the time that we move to put incidents like this one in the past for good . We have reaction tonight from someone who witnessed this murder firsthand. He called the cops last may 25th. Check his pulse. Check his pulse, kyle. Bro, check his pulse. Thats donald williams. We had him on right after the incident. He testified for the prosecution and joins us once again. What does this mean to you, donald . Man, this means a lot to me. Not only to me, my family and also to George Floyds family and to the world. This is a big accomplishment and a big step to getting justice for black america. Did you expect this . I cant say i expected it but i know the team for myself and the team that was around, witnesses, we all went out there and we told the truth, we told what we seen, and if the world didnt see what we seen, then it was blinders still on, and i believe the blinders are off now because the verdict that was made today. What has this meant to you in your life that you were there that day, that you did the right thing, that you knew it was wrong, and that you felt powerless to stop it . Do you feel more powerful now . I wouldnt say i feel powerful, i just feel that me as a human being and the people i grew up around, my personality, what i stand for, sticking up for people and what im teaching my kids have been shown to the world as a black man, you know . It just means a lot to me. A lot of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Its been some really long nights, really long days and a really long year to have a weight lifted off my shoulder. Today there is a lot of weight off my shoulders for me and my family, and not only for me and my family but for georges family and the world. What do you want this to mean . What i want this to mean, and the reason im going to keep on with this battle after this situation, i want my son and my friends kids, my sons sons kids, my daughters kids, my nieces and nephews, i want them to be able to be understood as a black human being in america. I want them to be able to have justice if their rights are being broken. This just means a lot. In history, im not really understanding how much history i am, but listening to people around me and the different feedback im getting from social media, from what im getting from people around us, it means a lot, chris. When you were in court, you were ready. You were ready to be challenged, you were ready to be painted a certain way. What did it feel like to be in that seat and to feel the questions coming and how much the answers meant and what you wanted to convey . It means a lot. It was a championship fight for me. Thats all i kept telling myself, stay focused. Its a championship fight. Its five rounds but this is a whole year. You got to be able to, you know, stay in a zone. Dont lose yourself with all the r riffraff thats going on, or rumors trying to make me out as an expert of certain things when all i was doing was telling the truth. Part of the big Defense Strategy was, you know the real deal with george floyd, right . You know what he was really about, right . You know what he was doing, right . You know what hes really like, right . Then when you got on the stand, they wanted you to be seen a certain way as well. Let me remind the audience. You were angry. No. You cant pin me as being angry. I was in a position where i had to be in control. Those terms grew more and more angry, would you agree with that . They grew more and more pleading for life. Angry black man. Speaking to the cops. They couldnt do their job. Thats what the portrayal was supposed to be. You didnt want to let it happen. No. Not at all. I been there. I been there four, five, six, seven years old being considered an angry black child. He always got his work done before the class. No, hes just got too much energy, things like that. Ive been a wrestler in minnesota. Passiveaggressive. What he did for me was just give me more feel to be comfortable on the stand because i knew his tactics was to see me as a black man and to see that i was angry and to see if he could distract me and see if he could get me off course. I stayed on track. He was not able to break me because were unbreakable. Weve been through this fight for 400plus years. Im just a hybrid of my ancestors before me. When i met you, when we first spoke last may, you said, we got to make a change. We all better make a change. I dont know the last time we saw a verdict like this under these kinds of circumstances, and this is a moment where change is possible. And you are forever part of that result and that story. I wish you well, and i thank you, donald williams, for sharing your story with us from the beginning. Thank you, chris, for having me. Thank you to the world and to the george floyd family and for the justice that we got. Thank you to my team, and again, my family for being able to rock with me and keep me focused during this championship fight. God bless and good luck Going Forward. Im always a call away. Thank you, sir. Salum. We have another witness to the floyd murder. This one did not testify at trial. He was in the passengers seat inside floyds car. He is maurice hall. Youll remember, he invoked his fifth amendment right against selfincrimination at the trial, but he is back now and willing to talk to us, next. [sfx psst psst] allergies dont have to be scary. Spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. Psst psst all good at qvc, were celebrating you during our friends and family event. All april long youll find the brands you love, and love the ones you get to discover. The hosts, experts, and personalities with the stories behind the products, and special deals every day. Including 40 off an everchanging selection of products. Savings end soon, only on qvc and qvc. Com i signed up because i was curious. I learned about my grandfathers life on ancestry and it was a remarkable twentiethcentury transformation. He did a lot of living before i knew him. Bring your Family History to life like never before. Get started for free at ancestry. Com every single one of the past 330 days, everyone who was at the intersection of east 38th street and chicago avenue in minneapolis has lived with the memory of the murder that they witnessed. And now there can be no debate. It was a murder. Tonight a witness you didnt hear in trial is back on cuomo prime time to tell you what its been like from that day to this one. Maurice hall, welcome back. Hey, how you doing . What does today mean to you, sir . Today means a day of justice. Its still going to be a long way, you know. Ive been feeling like im still forever going to miss big floyd, you know . This is the beginning for the future of black america, you know, the injustice, things of that nature. Do you ever think about what would have happened if there werent all that video, if there werent all those people gathered around, seeing what happened, worried about what happened . Yeah, they showed us from the beginning they started trying to cover it up, you know. So i can just imagine. Just like all the other killers and whatnot. They even have footage of philando and we saw how that turned out in the same city, and now we have another one in the same city. Its a problem, chris. Its a problem with the use of force of these officers. Philando castile youre talking about. I was wondering, if i heard you werent going to testify, obviously its completely your right. I wonder how much your decision was the fact that you and your lawyer knew that the defense wanted to paint this situation about who george was and what he was really about. Were you worried about that, that they were going to come at you and try to make this some kind of character assassination . Of course. I mean, first of all, the defense aint on my side, so for them calling me, it was useless them calling me. So to keep myself from going up and getting into contempt of court, we came up with a plan, and it was a great one. It just would have distracted everybody. What about the other officers cases . Do you want to testify in those . I wouldnt mind. That would be something with my law lawyers. Like i said, the defense was not on our side so it was nothing i could offer them. I think the prosecution done a good job, anyway, with bringing on professionals. I got it. Was there a little bit of frustration from you that you wanted to speak up on your friends blehalf, as you call him, big floyd . Well, i know this is a historical moment, so ill have the chance of telling my story instead of it being narrated and scripted the way they want to paint it. What do you think it means at the end of the day . This is a big case. I was saying at the top of the show, i dont know if you got to hear, its almost hard to compare it with anything else. It was a case that became a movement not just local, not just black people. The tape was so shocking, so long, so obvious to so many, but its still just one case. And change takes a lot. Do you think this could be the catalyst that leads to something more . Very well. Very well. We believe that officers we know for sure Going Forward, if they dont want to be have a chance to intervene, i hope and pray theyll have enough gumption, i hope theyll intervene no matter who is the superior officer. This is a bit of a weird question. You knew george floyd very well and im sorry you lost a brother this way. You must be thinking of him so much during this process, and obviously no one can consider, hey, i wonder if my life will become part of a huge criminal case, but what do you think your friend would have thought about how much dimension his life would take on, how many people would know his name across this country and the world . What do you think your friend would have made of this . Big floyd always thought he was legendary, you know . He came from houston, so i hate that it turned this way in these circumstances, but he still carried himself as if he was the athlete, superstar that he was, and i think he would have embraced it. Well, he certainly has become very, very relevant. Maurice hall, im glad this is over for you and you can get on with your life, and thank you for talking to us again. Yes, sir. Thank you. Be well. God bless. Obviously this started as a local story. It almost ended as a local story, and on the streets of minneapolis there has been a barometer about what this will mean for people in that community and communities like it. The nation, those streets are no longer in waiting for this verdict. But we do know that this is just one case, and the fight over injustice in america has a long way to go. Next. Rely on the experts at 1800petmeds for the same medications as the vet, but for less with fast free shipping. Visit petmeds. Com today. George floyd was murdered by police. That is forever. But now there has been accountability as a form of justice. What will that mean . Lets see where that story goes in the place that it began, on the streets of minneapolis where sara sidner once more joins us tonight from what is now George Floyd Square. Where we started and where we are. How are you, sara . Reporter sorry, guys, im trying to hear you, chris. Its very, very, very loud. Behind me is jesse jackson. The crowd here has been very calm, very active, talking about what they can do. Im going to pull out a little bit here. Im swept up in the crowd of people who are following jesse. He came here and the crowd cheered, but let me give you a theme setter. A very different feeling in George Floyd Square tonight, as you can imagine. There was a lot of pentup tension, a lot of pentup sorrow, a lot of pentup anger about what happened and a lot of pentup worry about what this verdict was going to be. Now that Derek Chauvin is guilty on all three counts, he is guilty of Second Degree unintentional murder, third degree murder and manslaughter, you can see what people are doing. Theyre dancing, theyre in some ways celebrating. Not celebrating in being overly disrespectful. They know a life is gone. They have been praying down here at the area where george floyd breathed his last breath, but they feel theyre celebrating because they feel at least justice has been done in some sense. The justice system, they felt, worked in their minds this time, and to see that video that was taken had such an impact, clearly an impact on the jury, just the same way it did on the entire world. But you can see the crowd. Again, a crowd of people who are diverse. People from all walks of life are here. There are children here, there are families here. This is very much like the first few days after george floyd died except for the feeling now is one of relief. Weve been here all this time and it has been if you can, try to get the photographer to stay in one place and then the shot will stop breaking up. Thats a wifi camera, by the way. We call them live view. So its hard for them just with wireless signal. Can we get sara back . Good. Stay still so i can hear you and see you, sara, and give me a sense of sorry, chris. You have nothing to be sorry for. Youve been such a help to the audience and to me all along. Very hard story to cover and done very well. But this isnt about us. The idea that this verdict would happen, ive never seen another case, nonshooting murder conviction. Do people understand how rare a form of justice this is . Reporter absolutely. Everybody in this state, especially black folks in the state, understand that this is a seminole case. Thats how they see it. It is a seminal case. For the first time an officer has been tried and convicted. Second degree murder, third degree murder and manslaughter. And yes, people really understand whats going on. You know who else understands . The family of george floyd understands. Im going to move just a little bit because its starting to get full in here and wed like to try to keep it covid safe if we can. I wanted to give you just a view of how things are here. It is a totally different feeling than when i was here in may, when i came back in june. It is a different feeling than when i was here a month ago. And weve been here for a month. Giving you a look now of the crowd. They have taken over this area, really, and thats why theyre calling it George Floyd Square. Everything you see is about george floyd, but its also a cry for justice and just coming into the back side of this, we are right outside cup foods. If you look down there, chris, i know you know this image and i know our audience does, too. But its pretty powerful being here right now looking at where his body lay when he took his last breaths and you see people have been constantly trying to make sure that this was not disturbed and constantly kept up. And there are things from all over the world here, and people are here standing around it. Some people are so, so thankful and hugging each other. Its just such an inkcredibly powerful scene, and that young lady installation that we were just inside every single day she collects peoples offerings, and she intends to keep them for the history. She intends to keep a historic record of what happened here in minneapolis. That is the scene here in George Floyd Square. A sense of relief and a sense that justice has been served. Chris . Sara, thank you so much for taking us inside the situation, the hearts and the minds. You are appreciated, my friend. Pain. Pain is what this story is about for the people who live it and live in fear of it. George floyd was one man. And i know there are those of you who will see this and be like, wow, theyre really making a big deal about him. Its never been just about george floyd. Its that his life mattered. Because many like him feel that their lives do not. Hes a person but also a proxy. This is about him but its much bigger than him. It always has been. Do not let your ideas about the situation begin and end with one person. Its never been what it is about. And now you understand that better because you know that video hits you in a way you didnt expect it to. Now we have a case on the books that is unlike almost any other weve ever seen. What will it mean Going Forward . Van jones, next. Remember how we got here. Yes, the video. Stark, consistent. Weve seen videos before. Im old enough to remember rodney king, eric gardner, philando castile, tamir rice. I know you cant keep the names straight. Why . There are too many. But ill remind you, the videos always prompt outrage, never looks good. But we never had one lead to a cop convicted of murder, let alone in a nonshooting situation. What does it mean . Van jones. So we have reminded people you reminded me last night. We had the chief of police, we had the head of training testify in this case against a former officer. Yep. Unique. We had the start with the local force making it seem like it was something its not. Until it was given to the state and then a prosecutor. In context, how special is this . Very special. And theres lessons here. I love talking to you because we can get to the real stuff. People say the system worked. Thats kind of true, but its not. The people made the system work. Thats the key. The people made it work. That young woman with her cell phone, and then when they had the coverup with the local Police Department saying, oh, is this an oopsie . And the local prosecutor wasnt acting right. The governor, despite the people, gave the case to keith ellison. He put that case on. The people making the system work. And that will have to continue Going Forward. Three things. Now the elected official has to step in. Number one, the people have to make the senate act. The house has already passed some good legislation. Senator tim scott and cory booker could sit down together, come up with a way for this senate to act, ban the chokehold. The chokehold still not banned. There is no registry for cops like chauvin. There is no duty to intervene today. There is no duty for the cop to intervene right now. Lets fix that, number one. Number two, this week, veneda gupta and tim clark could be sworn in today. These are smart senators that could help get in there and get real change. Theyve got this thing called yes for minneapolis to fix the Police Department there and to make that thing work. Youve got to keep making the system work. Its not automatic. You can make it work, but you have to do the kind of stuff that got us here is what can get us there. If you just celebrate and sit down, well be right back here in a year. People take me to task for showing the crowd and showing that there are white people. Yes, one of the reasons i do that is so that white people can get over this phobic response to angry black people. But also because minorities cant change things by themselves. The majority has to want it, too. Do you know what thats called . Thats called math matters. Black lives matter and math matters. It turns out its always been this unbelievable coalition on led by black folks, black struggle, black soul, black pain, black genius, black magic but never by ourselves. Always with these unbelievable allies of every color. I love this new thing, this bouquet of humanity. That was one of the phrases. Its always been a bouquet of humanity. Always led by black struggle or often led by black struggle, but it brings out the best in everybody, and thats what happened here. Youre not taking anything away from the black struggle by saying that. Youre saying the black struggle is so beautiful, it can bring out the best in everybody. Math matters. The people who are in the state of minnesota, if you look at their numbers, the liveability index is unbelievable but the disparities are some of the worst in country. It means minnesota is white and a terrible place to be black. You have to get together to fix it. You had grassroots organizations of all kinds who, when the cameras went away, kept working together, kept helping each other. Muss muslim, somali, all the people were working together. Thats what weve got to keep. The people who are denouncing what you are doing in ten years will be praising you. Thats what happens. Its the people who raise their hand, tell the truth, get beat up in the short term left and right, but long term thats what makes a difference. Its happening on the air, its happening in court boardrooms, its happening on the streets, and folks, were winning, but we havent won yet. All that matters is change. How it gets there, it gets there. The majority has to want it. My question is how much of a catalyst is this . This case, again, i did not see this verdict coming. Yes, everything makes sense after the fact. But this was unprecedented, almost, in a nonshooting case. But, you know, the notes i see from people saying, hey, i got to tell you, im happy for them. Im happy for those guys. Who are those guys . You have to be happy, really its not a joyous situation, but you have to be satisfied that the system can work and that the compromise of the collective can make things happen. If the majority doesnt want the changes we need for our Police Officers to do their job better for themselves and those they protect, it wont happen. I agree. I wanted to say just one last thing. Coming together is the key. And the u. S. Senate has an opportunity like youd never believe. Everybody the polls on the chokehold, the registry, duty to intervene off the charts in both parties. You have a republican leader in tim scott, a democratic leader in cory booker. Let them get together, break the log jam and do something. People will feel better on all sides if we acknowledge this isnt working and fix it. The senate could do that. They could confirm vaneta gupta and chris clark. This could happen this month Going Forward and make everybody feel better. Just one add, process matters. Dont let the leaders lead this with booker and scott. Put it in committee. Lets see how people mark it up. Lets see what amendments they want. Let people be counted for why they dont want to vote for it. Dont give them the out of being able to talk on the side. Let it all be exposed. People know whats right and whats wrong. Van jones, you are like i dont know, i guess like a beautiful tulle up in the bouquet. Guys like me, were like the grass they throw in at the end that sits on the bottom. Maybe im the foam, i dont know. Thank you very much. You are the message. Thank you, bro. In a couple weeks, you will have the sentencing. That will be a very interesting aspect of this. You also have three more officers to be tried. So were going to go back on what comes next with a criminal defense attorney who helped get George Zimmerman acquitted in the Trayvon Martin case. This part of the analysis matters. The sentence matters. The next cases matter, too. Well be right back. The George Floyd Murder trial is over. But the Legal Process is not. You have Derek Chauvins sentencing months away. An appeal is a virtual certainty. And dont forget there are three other officers still to be tried for floyds killing. Criminal defense attorney mark mark omara joins me now. I was surprised by this verdict. I did not think they would get the Second Degree murder charge, but they did and they did it quickly. Now, what does that suggest, if anything, about sentencing . Well, it tells the judge, who is going to be the Sentencing Authority here, that this jury was certain. They didnt take too long. There wasnt a lot of compromise. There werent questions about what to do. They knew the law. They knew the facts. And they applied them. So, i think a tight deliberation and this wasnt an hour or two. They took their time. I think they went through all the evidence. But i think their voice to the judge was we are certain that chauvin is guilty of Second Degree murder and by the way, Everything Else that we can convict him of. And i think the judge has to take that into heart and into mind when he decides whats a reasonable sentence under these circumstances. Aggravating factors, mitigating factors. What do you see as the biggest aggravating and any mitigating. So, the abuse of his authority. You know, no question about that. And of course he was vulnerable, a vulnerable victim, somebody who you sort of abuse at vulnerability. Thats exactly what chauvin did. Lets face it. It was exactly who george floyd was that led to his death that he was vulnerable to chauvins continued action. So, hes got a lot of explaining to do to this judge to say why he did what he did because there was 9 1 2 minutes not only got him convicted but i think its going to get him aggravated sentence. Do you think theres any chance he serves 20 years or more . The guys and i suggest for someone like chauvin, ignoring the aggravation, about 12 1 2 years. Chris, if i or you were convicted of those just like it was, 12 1 2 is the recommended sentence although the maximum is 40 years. We know he got maybe this offer of ten years way back when, attorney general barr somehow, but we have to know that a regular person not a cop, a regular person would get 12 1 2 years. Does chauvin get the benefit and a lesser sentence because he was a Law Enforcement officer, or does the judge look at those aggravating factors and say, look, you so abused your trust and the ability and the authority that we gave you that we now have to make an example of somebody who does that abuse of trust and gives him that 20year sentence. I dont think its going to go higher than 20, but i would be surprised if its only the guideline range of 12 1 2. And whatever that is which by the way, chris im sorry is a massive sentence for a Law Enforcement officer to get. Right. This judge is not going to have a lot of precedent to rely on because weve never seen a case like this. This is a nonshooting murder case. What does it mean, quickly, for the other three officers . You know, 97 of all criminal cases resolve themselves short of a trial. We plead them out a lot. Ive got to tell you if im a criminal defense attorney representing one of those three, im having a cup of coffee with the prosecutor tomorrow to try to work something out because that jury just spoke loud and clear. You just lost a lot of leverage. Yeah, lost a lot of leverage with the conviction of chauvin. No question about it. Thank you for helping us along the way. Theres more to come. Well be right back. You can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. We thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. But we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. If you have one hundred thousand dollars or more of Life Insurance you may qualify to sell your policy. Dont cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what its worth. Visit conventrydirect. Com to find out if you policy qualifies. Or call the number on your screen. Coventry direct, redefining insurance. Its moving day. And while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. It only takes about a minute. Wait, a minute . But what have you been doing for the last two hours . Delegating . Oh, good one. Move your Xfinity Services without breaking a sweat. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com its a very important night. We have to make sense of why this case was decided the way it was and what will it mean in this country after tonight . Ill be back at midnight eastern with special live expanded coverage. And guess who will be by my side. D. Lemon. But right now hes here solo with the big show. What a night, what a day watching all of this unfold. I mean, here it is. I mean, we were we were talking about what just 24 hours ago that it only takes one juror. But thats not where we are right now. Everybody agreed. Ten hour of deliberation, four and a half hours one day four hours one day, six and a half another day, and here we are with justice in the eyes of in this country. The case does not have a companion. You know what the embarrassing thing is . I cant give you a great answer about where this case fits in terms of the statistics and percentages because we dont keep them. Its not a National Metric for it. Use of force. We depend on states. The fbi works with them, but there are no standards. But in a nonshooting case to have not just a homicide charge against a Police Officer but a murder charge is almost unheard of. Yeah. And but here we are. It was today, to see and to hear that verdict, guilty, guilty, guilty on all counts and then watch Derek Chauvin be remanded and taken away in handcuffs was certainly a moment, both visually and i cant even explain it. I dont even know what to say today. As i sat there and watched, chris i must be honest. As i sat there and