BUFFALO (WBEN) - "I was hopeful that the jury would reach the right decision, that the verdict would be guilty on all three counts," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown after a jury found former Minneapolis police officer guilty in the murder of George Floyd Tuesday.
"I was very pleased to see that the jury did the right thing and that there was accountability in this terrible murder."
Along with Brown, several other local officials expressed their pleasure with the result of one of the most followed trials in American history.
"Justice has been served," said local attorney John Elmore. "This has been a powerful moment in American history..."
Attorney Paul Cambria said it was a major victory for the prosecution to get a guilty verdict on all three charges, but he also noted that there are more legal avenues that the defense can explore.
"I'm sure there will be an appeal," said Cambria. "The question is whether there are any grounds for an appeal. I didn't follow every single part of the case to see if there was something that I recognized as appealable, and as far as the congressperson (Maxine Waters) making a comment, you'd really have to show that the jurors were exposed to that to mean anything."
As of now, Chauvin is expected to be sentenced in about eight weeks, and Elmore expects Chauvin to be sentenced to prison for at least a decade, as he faces up to 40 years.
"What we really need is a change in the police culture where when a police officer sees something wrong, when he sees a citizen being abused, that he'll feel an honor and a duty to step in and stop it," said Elmore, who hopes this trial will help bring more reform to law enforcement around the country.
Brown added that this is just the start, but an important start nonetheless.
"Change has to come," Brown began. "This is an important verdict, a critical verdict that hopefully provides some measure of comfort to the grieving family of George Floyd and so many others that were so deeply affected by this.
"This is a start, but there's a lot more work to do."
