George Floyd murder case: Jury chosen for trial of accused cop

A jury was seated on Tuesday for the high-profile trial of the white police officer facing murder and manslaughter charges for the death of George Floyd, a black man whose death were captured on video. Opening arguments in the trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 44, are scheduled to begin on Monday. Chauvin could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge — second-degree murder.

After the video of Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, was circulated on the internet, it sparked massive protests against racial injustice and police brutality across the United States and even across the globe.

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The judge presiding over the case, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on 15 jurors after two weeks of intensive questioning of prospective jurors in a heavily guarded courtroom in downtown Minneapolis.

The 15 jurors selected are six white women, three Black men, three white men, two women of mixed-race and one Black woman. One of the jurors will be dismissed by the judge on Monday and 12 jurors will hear the case and decide Chauvin’s fate while the other two serve as alternates.

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All but one of the jurors, a white man in his 20s who said he was a chemist, said they had watched some if not all of the bystander video of Chauvin kneeling on the neck of the handcuffed Floyd during his arrest.