George Floyd: US city on edge as jury deliberates Chauvin verdict

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Minneapolis is braced for a repeat of the violence that gripped the city last spring after George Floyd's death

The jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-police officer accused of killing George Floyd last year, has retired to weigh up its verdict.

Security has been ramped up around the court building in the US city of Minneapolis, which is protected by barbed wire, high barriers and armed soldiers from the National Guard.

"This was murder," the prosecutor said in closing arguments on Monday.

The defence argued that Mr Chauvin had correctly followed police training.

He behaved as any "reasonable police officer" would, lead lawyer Eric Nelson said, adding the circumstances surrounding Mr Floyd's death gave rise to reasonable doubt.

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But prosecutor Steve Schleicher urged jurors to "use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw," referring to the video showing Mr Chauvin kneeling on Mr Floyd for more than nine minutes last May.

"This wasn't policing; this was murder," he added.

The footage of Mr Chauvin, who is white, restraining Mr Floyd, a black man, on the floor as he shouted "I can't breathe" spurred months of global protests against racism in 2020.

The trial of Mr Chauvin has been described as a pivotal moment for race relations and policing in the US.

Cities across the country are bracing for protests regardless of whether the jury decides to convict or acquit Mr Chauvin of murder and manslaughter charges.

On Monday the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, requested security assistance from the states of Ohio and Nebraska ahead of the verdict.

Walz thanked Ohio and Nebraska for helping Minnesota's state troopers and police officers "as they continue to work to keep the peace in our communities".

Watch: How the prosecution made its case against Derek Chauvin

What will happen when there is a verdict?

By Tara McKelvey, BBC News, Minneapolis

The streets around the court were quiet on Monday morning, but local residents are waiting to see what will happen once the verdict is reached.

One activist tells me they are planning to hit the streets, regardless of what kind of verdict is rendered.

If the jurors decide that Derek Chauvin is not guilty on all counts, or guilty only of manslaughter - a lesser charge - the activists will march.

But even if he is found guilty on all counts, the activists will still march - "a celebratory protest", as one of them put it.

In that case, the campaigners will take to the streets to show their satisfaction with the verdict, and to demand justice for the others who have died while in police custody.

What happened in court?

The prosecution and the defence made their closing statements in a trial that lasted three weeks. The prosecution then had another opportunity to rebut Mr Nelson's arguments before the jury was sent to deliberate.

Jurors could take a short amount of time or days to decide whether to convict former Minneapolis police officer Mr Chauvin.

The jury will have to consider testimony heard from 45 witnesses, including doctors, use-of-force experts, police officers, bystanders and people who were close to Mr Floyd.

Watch: The three key arguments used by Chauvin's defence

Mr Chauvin has been charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge - second-degree murder.

A conviction on any of the counts against Mr Chauvin will require the nine-woman, five-man jury to return a unanimous verdict.

After the jury had left court on Monday, lawyers for the prosecution and defence continued to debate procedural matters.

Judge Peter Cahill rejected a last-gasp attempt by Chauvin's defence lawyer to declare the trial invalid because of media coverage and comments made by a member of Congress.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill rejected a request by the defence to declare the trial invalid

Mr Nelson suggested remarks made by Democratic representative Maxine Waters over the weekend may have influenced the jury.

Ms Waters spoke on Saturday in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis where Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a police officer last week.

If there is no guilty verdict in Mr Chauvin's trial, Ms Waters said, "then we know that we got to not only stay in the street, but we have got to fight for justice".

She also rejected curfews and said: "We got to stay on the street. And we've got to get more active, we've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business."

In court, Mr Nelson described Ms Waters' comments as "threats against the sanctity of the jury process".

"Now that we have US representatives threatening acts of violence in relation to this case - it's mind boggling to me," Mr Nelson said.

Mr Nelson depicted Mr Chauvin's actions as those of a "reasonable" police officer

In response, Judge Cahill said: "I give you that congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this trial being overturned."

The judge said he wished "elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law".

"Their failure to do so is abhorrent," he said.

However, he said Ms Waters' "opinion really doesn't matter a whole lot" and therefore dismissed Mr Nelson's motion for a mistrial.

Earlier on Monday, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the US House of Representatives, defended Ms Waters over her remarks, insisting she had no reason to apologise.