Court. It is a moment that the nation and many throughout the world have been waiting for. Chauvin is facing seconddegree unintentional murder, thirddegree murder and seconddegree manslaughter charges, the most serious charges is seconddegree unintentional murder and that carries a maxim sentence of 40 years in misson. Lets go straight to cnns sara sidner hive outside the courthouse in minnesota. Sara, you just spoke with George Floyds brother. I cant imagine what they are feeling right now, but give us an idea. They are nervous, i imagine. You know, its really interesting, jake, because the floyd family, particularly philonise and his brother terrance, they are really calm dudes, like they really have a sense of calm, and i asked them how that is possible in a time like this when everyone else including myself is on tinder hooks and they said we just have faith and believe justice will be served. I called Philonise Floyd just as i heard that the verdict had been reached. He had not heard that the verdict had been reached. He says, you know, okay. What is it . And i said i do not know what the verdict, is and i felt a bit bad being the one to tell him. You know, his response was its going to be all right. He says, look. I realize that this is an historic case in america, but for us it is deeply personal, a deeply personal case. They lost he lost a brother, terrance lost a brother, rodney lost a brother. People lost a cousin and an uncle and a friend, and so they are extremely calm while everyone else around here is extremely nervous. You have this jury of 12 people. Half of the jury are people of color. There are four black men and there are two mixed race people on this jury, and there are six other jurors, the other half of the jurors are caucasian. They worked for a good nine hours to deliberate. They went to deliberate at 4 00 yesterday, and they deliberated for four hours yesterday and came back and deliberated for about five hours before we heard that that they had reached a verdict. Whats really i think important in this case is that a hung jury would have been very difficult and devastating to a lot of people, and i think, you know, having a decision is very important for everyone that has been involved with this, because as you know with a hung jury, it would mean that would you have to, if the prosecution decided, he would have to do this all over again with all 45 potential witnesses and the floyd family and, you know, potentially a member of the chauvin family going back over all of these things and how there would be a brandnew jury going back over all of this again. Thats not going to happen. We dont know whats going to happen. Certainly youre not going have a hung jury after ten hours, and the fact that this decision has been reached so quickly, we do not know what the verdict is, and we cannot assert what the verdict is in any way. We will hear it from the jury themselves in the courtroom, but generally speaking, sara you and i have gone through this a number of times, this would suggest an easy decision whether its an easy decision of not guilty or an easy decision of guilt. Reporter you hit the nail on the head, jake. They did not ask a single question because all of the media would have known. We were told that if they were to ask a question, they would have asked a question via zoom to the court and the court if they thought it was appropriate would have given them a response. Not a single question. Weve not learned of a single question that any of the jurors have asked if in this case so this will be a decisive decision, if you will, from this juror from these jurors of 12 people. You know that we started with 14 because we had two alternate jurors. They were dismissed when this jury went to deliberate yesterday at 4 00 p. M. Local time, and so we have a decision. We do not know. They can do one charge, and they can decide on one or they can decide all three. He can be acquitted of all three or he could be he can be found guilty of all three or just one or two, so it the system here is different than some other places in the country and so this is one of those moments where we all just have to sit back and we have to wait for the foreperson when asked what their decision is in court. We have to wait for that person to tell us what these 12 people have decided in the case involving a former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of george floyd. And let us just remind our viewers tuning in throughout the world of the 12 people on the jury. We know that six of them are white, four of them are black or africanamerican and two of them are bior multiracial and thats according to the court, so so whatever the conclusion is, it is one that all 12 of these individuals of a diverse jury reached very quickly. Absolutely. It is a diverse jury. Its even more diverse than if you look at the state and at the county, but more reflective of minneapolis itself. You know the jury pool is a lot larger than just the city, so this is a diverse jury. It is both men and women. You have black folks. You have white folks and you have multiracial folks on this jury. They have been paying attention too, and this is a jury that was writing notes and listening directly at the witnesses and paying attention to the opening and closing arguments and they have been attentive and now they have a decision. Xwlets to Cnns Omar Jimenez in George Floyd Square in minneapolis. Thats what they call the area of the city where george floyd died. Omar, it must be an incredibly somber scene there. Reporter it is, jake. Weve been talking to people here throughout the day about what this moment means. Of course, we were talking to them before we even knew that a verdict was in, and for many of them the Common Thread is that what happened to george floyd is not an end all be all. No matter what the verdict is, that this needs to be the beginning of a longterm practice of treating black people with respect, and this is really what its all about. When you think about the verdict and we get all caught up in all the Legal Proceedings and the trial and the legalize and what one witness said versus another. What it comes down to is this spot where george floyd laid under the knee of Derek Chauvin for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, multiple minutes of which he was unconscious for back in may of 2020. Its become a makeshift memorial. It started at this cup foods here on the left, of course, with that call over a potential fraudulent 20 bill where we know the cashier who initially wrestled with reporting it still feels guilt over that decision thinking to himself as we found out in court what if i hadnt called . Will what if i had just paid it out of my own pocket . Could i have stopped all of this . And then youre reminded of the stakes in this verdict. When you come over to the central part of george floyd park. You see the fist raised in the air, the statue erected here but you also see the faces of george floyd as you come around the circumstance. You see the faiths tamir rice and you see the face of Breonna Taylor next to the sign of black lives matter, and you see the face of Daunte Wright which, of course, just happened over the course of this past week, so those are the stakes that people feel are at play, that its not just about george floyd. Its about so many people that have died in many cases at the hands of police. Jake . And im reminded i think what will smith, that racism is not getting worse. Its just getting filmed. One can only imagine how this all would have played out had there not been a preponderance of smart phones in the vicinity. Omar jimenez, well come back to you in a bit. Were told that Derek Chauvin, the defendant, is now in the courthouse. We dont have live pictures of that yet for you, but well bring them to you as we do, as the jury is preparing to announce their decision, their verdict. Lets bring in cnn anchor don lemon. Don, only about ten hours of deliberations suggesting that for this jury of six white people, four africanamericans, two multiracial people, that it was a relatively easy decision as these things go. Whats your reaction . Well, we dont know. I mean, one would tend to think with about ten, step and a half hours, it was four hours yesterday and six and a half hours today that it was a decision that they reached unanimously and that it was a relatively easy decision, but, jake, as you know, listen. Im old enough to have been in the newsroom for rodney king and for o. J. Simpson and for george zimmerman, and many times these things dont turn out the way you think they do just because, you know, o. J. Simpson was four hours that they deliberated even though the trial went on for 11 months. So how am i feeling about this . Quite frank lit way most americans are feeling about it, angst. Theres anxiety here. Im anxious about it. Theres a sense of dread as well because i dont know whats going to happen after the verdict is rendered and after it is read, and, you know, as i was getting ready to come here and even earlier today people were texting me and calling me and saying im really nervous about this. Im really nervous about thrngs especially people of color, jake, because of what this means for the entire country and also what it means for the value of black life in this country and state violence against people of color. America is on trial here, and i think that this verdict will indicate just how much of a value that the system, right, that america places on black people. Jake, you know, i sat here weve been sitting here for almost a year. It was the 25th of may, memorial day last year, when we all saw that horrific videotape play out of george floyd, if not that day then soon after, and we were all sitting in our homes with nowhere to go because we couldnt, because we were in the middle of a deadly pandemic and a quarantine, and we were so open an so vulnerable, and we saw that and i think to a person, most people in this country were horrified by that, and many didnt know or understand how many people of color are treated by Law Enforcement in this country, and george floyd laying there on that pavement with the life being snuffed out of him was evidence in realtime of that treatment, and so here we are almost a year later, and there is a verdict, and it is in many ways a year has gone quickly, and it seems like its gone at a snails pace, but here we are and america is on trial, amend were going to find out what the verdict is in just moments. We shall see what the value of a black life is. This is happening very quickly. You note that o. J. Simpson was acquitted in four hours. George zimmerman was also acquitted in 16 hours, also relatively quickly. We should note the big differences obviously in those cases, beyond the racial dynamics being very different in aural of them, the murders of Trayvon Martin and the murders of all the other individuals that weve been talking about in the last year generally speaking with the only exception being that i can think of eric garner, none of them were on tape. This was filmed, all nine and a half minutes of former officer chauvins knee on George Floyds neck. This was filmed. We all saw it. Yeah. We all saw it, but if you had been watching i had been glued to the coverage, and if youve been watching it, the defense has been trying to make us is not believe what we have seen with our own eyes and what we heard at least 27 times of george floyd saying i cant breathe, if not more, so they are trying to convince us that, you know, that reality is not reality. Jake, as you know, sadly, after the last five years, we live in a posttruth, postreality world, where people depending on your beliefs or who you believe in or who you trust, thats what youre going to believe regardless of what the evidence says so theres a concern there, especially among people of color, especially among people who look like me. I must be honest. When everyone says of course theres no way that Derek Chauvin will be acquitted. Theres no way that they are not going that hes not going to be guilty of the most major charge and then people of color go oh, yeah, theres a way because weve seen it before, and we thought that the evidence was conclusive, but, still, i know what youre saying, but but, still, even in the videotape people are if you look jake, if you look at what the polling shows about what people thought about george floyd and Derek Chauvin right after this happened when it happened, many more people believed that george floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin, and if you look at the polling now, they are not so sure about it. But the polling doesnt matter. What matter is what the opinions of the 12 individuals on the jury think. And they are made up of people from the American Public just as people who are polled are made up of people from the American Public and many of the people who have been following this very closely. And my point is the polling doesnt matter. All that matters is the 12 people. Right. And the point im trying to make is, and i understand your understand your skepticism and i feel it and i their and its not new to me, this concept, but if you talked about the defense and what they did, and the defense did what Defense Attorneys do. They try to change the subject. Thats what they are supposed to do, yeah. Throw as much on the wall and see what sticks, and we all talked or the last few weeks about this, that all he needed to do, the defense attorney who by the way mislead the jury and was reprimanded by the judge or at least corrected by the judge of misleading the jury in terms of what was required in terms of cause of death. Yeah. But all the defense attorney needed to do was to convince one person because thats because you need unanimity on the jury. My point is there is no hung jury. Its unanimous within ten hours, so, you know, that strategy, if in fact that was the central artery. All i need to do is convince one person with this. Yeah. Yeah. Defense attorneys gaslight. Thats what they do and thats their job. This trial is not new in that sense. Prosecution in Different Cases they gaslight, too, but my point is that didnt work. It was uninameity, and like i think we all suspect what the verdict is going to be. We dont know, but we suspect what its going to be because itsees either an easy decision that chauvin is not guilty or an easy decision that chauvin is guilt, right . Yeah. Thats where the math comes down reading the tea leaves, and its a diverse jury. As we look at those live pictures right now, 3 16 p. M. Central time in minneapolis. Heres the thing. Jake, yes. I think youre right, but what im speaking to is we dont know, and youre right. What it indicates in this short a period of time it would tend to go one way or the other, but, look, this latter part of my career, the last couple of years. I i dont want to be in the prediction business anymore. Right. Because i dont know, but what im saying is that jurors are made up of the American Public. They are people as well, and they can be convinced otherwise, so everything we may be watching it and we may be absorbing it and thinking, well, there hes no way. Im just saying that ive said and many people have said before theres no way. Now i think youre right in your analysis and you will probably be right, but im just saying as my grandma would say hold your horses because you just dont know. No, i hear you. Right now. And youre youre not the only skeptic ive talked to in the last hour, believe me. On my way up here in talking to producers and a lot of people who dont know. Who dont know and feel like these are people who generally and people interpret that videotape very differently, jake. There are people who when they say the videotape saying, you know, he was not complying and they think that what he did before those 9 minutes and 29 seconds actually matters as well. Any legal person will tell you what matters is the 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Thats what matters. Yeah. But, again, we shall see. We shall see indeed, don lemon. I want to bring in Anderson Cooper and his panel, and im told, anderson, that George Floyds brother Philonise Floyd is going to be in the courtroom for the reading of the verdict. Anderson . Jake, don, thanks very much. Well come back to you very quickly. I want to talk to our team here. Legal and otherwise here in new york. Laura coates, just your quick thoughts right now as we await this verdict. Thank goodness theres not had a hung jury because the idea of there being a hung jury. Didnt have a single jury question, no confusion about any of the charges. Unanimity and what it actually holds were all on bated breath. What does that mean . I was taught a moment a jury verdict comes down is the most serious and solemn moment in our democracy. I was taught that the as a prosecutor. When a verdict comes down i was tout as a prosecutor you dont move. You dont celebrate. You dont sulk, and you have to be mindful of who is there. We heard Philonise Floyd will be there. Fat family members of the deceased are there. The defendant has his rights. Hes there, show this is sort of the heist our criminal justice process, and i was taught to have very deep respect for that moment. Van jones . Outside of that court roommate biggest Mass Movement for human rights in the history our species is waiting. This is the biggest millions and millions of people not just in the United States, around the world march, people tried to move heaven and earth to get justice here. Well see if it worked. Chief rams . Well, i guess like everyone else, im you know, im on the edge of my seat waiting for a verdict, but regardless of where this comes out, guilty, acquittal. This is a moment we cant waste. There has to be reform, and we cant take a deep breath and say oh, its over. This is just one case. Thats all it is. When it comes down to it, its tragic but just one case. Theres a lot that still needs to be done, and i hope we dont lose sight that have. You think back in history of all the people who have been killed, of all the people who have been fired from jobs, of all the injustices, perpetrated against minority communities in this country wh