A jury finds the three former police officers involved in the death of George Floyd guilty of civil rights violations

From left to right, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, in a combination of their mugshots.AP

After 13 hours of deliberations during the two days in which it gathered to debate, a federal jury in Saint Paul, Minnesota, has found guilty police officers Tou Thao, 36, Alexander Kueng, 28, and Thomas Lane, 38, of having violated the constitutional rights of George Floyd by not providing him with medical attention when he said up to 25 times that he could not breathe as a result of the pressure exerted on his neck by agent Derek Chauvin.

In addition, officers Kueng and Lane have been found guilty of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin from assaulting the African American.

The three police officers had been on trial for a month in a federal court in Saint Paul and final arguments began last Tuesday.

The deliberations of the jury were held on Wednesday and this Thursday.

Five men and seven women have heard the allegations for and against the three former police officers, who were fired in 2020 shortly after the video that a young woman recorded of the brutal death suffered by George Floyd was made public.

Except for Thao, who had eight years of experience, the other two policemen were rookies who had only been in the force for a few days.

“It is your duty to determine the facts and then apply the law,” Judge Paul Magnuson told the jury on Wednesday, according to Agence France Presse.

"Don't let your compassion or prejudice influence you," he added.

Chauvin, who for nine minutes and 29 seconds put Floyd to a slow death by suffocation on May 25, 2020, was convicted of manslaughter in June last year and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.

Judge Magnuson has allowed the three former police officers to remain free on bail pending sentencing, which has not yet been set.

Kueng pressed Floyd's back and Lane pinned his legs while Thao kept bystanders at a distance.

It was learned from public videos and police surveillance body cameras during the trial that Lane asked, "Should we put him on his side?"

Chauvin responded in the negative.

Lane insisted again and Kueng was the one who checked Floyd's pulse.

At no time did they try to help the 46-year-old African American or perform a recovery maneuver on him.

Agents called an ambulance, whose medical team transported Floyd's limp body to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

These guilty verdicts mark a major victory for the Justice Department, which under the Biden administration pledged to crack down on prosecutions of civil rights violations.

The news of the conviction comes days after federal prosecutors secured hate crime convictions against three white men in Georgia for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man they hunted down and killed.

Last December, Chauvin pleaded guilty to federal charges against him for violating Floyd's civil rights.

This was the first time that the former agent admitted his guilt in the death of the African American.

The case reignited the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked protests across the country against police abuses in the United States against the black population.

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