Guilty verdicts deemed 'just'

Apr. 21—Muskogee residents found justice in the three guilty verdicts rendered Tuesday by jurors who heard the evidence presented against a former Minneapolis police officer who took a knee on George Floyd's neck and killed him while the world watched.

Jurors deliberated about 11 hours before finding Derek Chauvin guilty of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. A teenager used her cell phone to capture video images of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck while he lay handcuffed on the street for more than nine minutes.

Those images captured the attention of a nation shut down by a global pandemic and whipped up passions of an electorate in advance of a hotly contested presidential election. Floyd's death sparked a summer of protests, demands for accountability, justice and reforms for policing.

Residents who watched Tuesday as the historic verdicts used the terms "justice" and "accountability" to describe the trial's outcome. While some said justice was served when jurors rendered their verdicts, others said those verdicts represent only a step in that direction.

"While justice has painfully prevailed in this case, the work is not done," said the Rev. Dr. Rodger L.B. Cutler of St. Mark Baptist Church. "This guilty verdict on all three counts is a turning point in history, and we must keep working to the end that justice for one is justice for all."

Cutler, president of Muskogee NAACP, said the three-week trial that determined the fate of Floyd's killer also put the criminal justice system under a microscope. The system showed "a badge can never be a shield from accountability."

"The wind of change is now blowing," Cutler said. "It is blowing us in the direction of healing and the hope of unity that is so desperately needed in America today."

Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee said he believes the verdict rendered by jurors was correct.

"I think they got it right," he said. "I think that was one of the things that most law enforcement officers across the country knew that (Chauvin) was in the wrong in what he did, so I think the jury got it right."

Teehee was also quick to point out how citizens should react in situations like this.

"One of the things I hope people will pick up is the justice system works," Teehee said. "It's something if they'll allow it to take place without overreacting — the justice system works — and I think it did in this case."

Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge agreed with Teehee about the guilty verdict.

"In this case, the verdict speaks for itself," Loge said. "You could watch the video and see the actions of Chauvin were not consistent with what police officers are trained to do when apprehending somebody. It was obvious the verdict should have been guilty, and it was."

Loge said he thought all the evidence presented by prosecutors pointed toward Chauvin's guilt. He did, however, acknowledge the significance of the video in prosecutors being able to secure a conviction.

"We see it a lot here where our officers wearing body cams alleviates a lot of the argument in court of what did or didn't happen," Loge said. "Here, that video was very helpful to this jury in determining what happened to George Floyd. I have no doubt about that."

Ward III Councilor Derrick Reed described the outcome of Chauvin's trial as "one step forward in the never-ending fight for justice and three steps forward for accountability." He said the "pain many of us relive each time a snippet from the traumatizing video of Floyd's killing is aired ... all comes down to today's guilty verdicts."

"It's been stated that an officer who abuses their power or stands by and allows it to happen does not deserve to wear the badge," Reed said, emphasizing the use of excessive force by police too often ends in death. "This case energized a movement for police reform and justice that can no longer be silenced. In the police encounter with a suspect, the world has seen an opportunity that causes us to next time do things different."

Loge said if a similar case had been tried in Oklahoma, a defendant like Chauvin would have been convicted of only the most serious crime — second-degree murder in this case. The others, he said, would be considered lesser included offenses — crimes that require proof of the same elements arising from the same set of facts.

"In Oklahoma they (prosecutors) start at the top, and if jurors find a defendant guilty of the most severe crime, then there is a conviction and the others are lesser included offenses and not considered," Loge said. "I am not familiar enough with Minnesota's criminal code to know why there were convictions for all three crimes."

Reporter Ronn Rowland contributed to this report.