Chauvin’s Judgement: Can African-Americans Breathe Again?

The gruesome murder of African-American, George Floyd, in the hands of former Police Officer, Derek Chauvin, by means of a chokehold, while his colleagues looked on and did nothing to save him, threw the entire world into unprecedented outrage in May 2020. It was one death too many for African-Americans, in the hands of racist white Police Officers, and the attendant spontaneous rage saw the people of Minneapolis, USA go on a rampage, resulting in the global hash tags, #icantbreathe and #blacklivesmatter, to press home the consciousness. Last week, a 15-member jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges of murder and manslaughter. Sentencing was adjourned for eight weeks, the convict facing imprisonment of up to 40 years. Jefferson Uwoghiren and Dr Kede Aihie dissect the issues in the landmark judgement, drawing a parallel with Nigeria, with emphasis on what lessons there could be for the Nigerian justice delivery system, while Epa Ogie Eboigbe examines the courageous role the teenage African-American young lady, Darnella Frazier, played in the whole saga and the ensuing trial, as a result of her capturing George Floyd’s murder on her phone-camera. If there is one thing this unfortunate incident has done, it has brought American policing into global focus, especially with regard to Police brutality against African-Americans. Will it be the catalyst for a change for the better, going forward?

Chauvin’s Verdict: Justice for George Floyd At Last

Jefferson Uwoghiren

Chauvin’s conviction last week, is a wake up call on the need to police the Police more effectively, and institute strong institutional policing reforms. The Police and their agencies are important and powerful fixtures of societies, because their actions impact heavily on the character and quality of people’s lives.

Over the years, lack of effective measures to tame the glaring excesses of many rogue officers, is the proximate cause of the Chauvin disaster. Chief of Police or Commissioners as we call them here, who are charged with taming and shaping departmental excesses are handicapped by corruption, cronyism, and the culture of silence and reversed wind of change.

The Chauvin trial and conviction, raised many questions about the methodology of a typical criminal investigation. There are two key lessons from the flawed Police investigation and processes, that led to the death of Floyd.

First, the investigation of a crime is a process of interrelating activities, conducted by many players. It is a series of actions, taken to produce a specific outcome or output. Each player’s input at different stages of the investigation, affect the output or success of the investigation, and prosecution of the Defendant. Officer Chauvin’s premeditated recklessness disrupted the process which started with the presentation of counterfeit dollars, and the said precipitate act has all been forgotten and forgiven, because of Chauvin’s disruption.

The second lesson is the speed, organisational openness and legal framework of the trial. Nothing like awaiting trial punishment and stripping of rights. The Fifth and Fourteen Amendments of US Constitution respectively, provide that neither the United States or State Governments shall deprive any person “ of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. This clause has been interpreted as imposing two separate limits on government, usually so-called procedural due process and substantive due process. In Nigeria, a trial of this magnitude would last ten years, with the court houses burnt, witnesses dead or intimidated out of town, and even the Defendant released, during recurring jail breaks. Evans the alleged kidnapper, is light years away from determination of guilt.

Timely and judicious determination of guilt is not a matter of convenience and benefits, but a matter of an effective legal system which works for all in a criminal justice system of free and democratic government. Contrary to the remarks of Sir Stratford Cripps, that methods and institutions of government are not simple commodities of international commerce that can be imported or exported, which echo the simplistic observations of Alexis de Tocqueville in his seminal book “Democracy In America” that the social conditions and original circumstances of a people determine the practical and theoretical values of State institutions; it is salutary to note that justiciable, timely, organised and non-disruptive determination of guilt, is not only embedded in our inherited Anglo-Saxon legal tradition and rules, that to presume an accused innocent until proven guilty, the socio-structural foundations of our pre-colonial legal systems, adhere that no man be condemned unheard. That our outrageous legal system today is akin to the French system of inquisitorial procedures of guilty until proven innocent, is more of a moral laziness, oversight failure and mutually exclusive incompetence.

The Nigerian Scenario

Right from the point of arrest, an accused person is subjected to the most deliberate physical and emotional trauma and abuses. Depending on his social status and pocket, an accused person without any legal authority is routinely paraded half naked before unimaginative journalists, with torrid and salacious details of illegally obtained and misleading evidence of confessions. It’s a crime under EFCC and Nigeria Police “Laws” for an accused person to wear pants, shoes, slippers or use phones. Access to food, medicine and legal assistance is sometimes only available to pliant and self-incriminating suspects. Where legal assistance is permitted, the atmosphere is invasively hostile. In many instances, the alleged voluntary statements of the accused persons are factually incorrect expressions of the accused persons, obtained, signed, sealed and delivered for denomination and damnation. Unfortunately, there are no reformist agencies, legislators and press to ram into the Policing Authorities, the benefits of the comprehensively concise dictum of Justice Brennan in BECKS v UNITED STATES, and echoed earlier by Justice Sutherland in BERGER v UNITED STATES that “the interest of the United States in a criminal investigation and prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done”. How many of our Police investigators and prosecutors understand that our justice system is an accusatorial and not inquisitorial system, in which the State must establish guilt by evidence independently and freely, and not by coercion, torture, humiliation, financial haemorrhage?

Jefferson Uwoghiren

Derek Chauvin’s Trial: Lessons from American Justice System

Dr Kede Aihie

About a year ago, George Floyd took his last breath, under the weight of Derek Chauvin, a former Minnesota Police Officer’s knee on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

The aftermath was a chain of protests in America, and around the globe. Naturally, the outrage put the American policing system and the disproportionate death of African Americans, in the spotlight. The American justice system, was facing scrutiny.

Mr Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter. His trial lasted 15 days, with 44 witnesses called’ and it took the jury less than 11 hours to reach a verdict; he was convicted of all three charges.

The Trial: Lessons that Nigeria Can Learn

What lessons can countries like Nigeria, draw from the trial, a cursory look at the judicial process during the trial is worth noting.

Judge Cahill presided in the case. Known as being fair and decisive, Cahill made the decision to allow the trial to be broadcast live. The defence strategy was reliance on what would a reasonable Police Officer would do. What is a reasonable use of force?

What would a reasonable person do in his or her most important affairs? What is a reasonable doubt?

The charges against Chauvin, would have been different under English common law. A two-tier system of murder and manslaughter.

On 29 November, 2006, a report, “Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide” was published. It was recommended that instead of the current two-tier structure of general homicide offences, namely murder and manslaughter, there should be a three-tier structure.

So, back to the Chauvin case – the guilty verdict has been welcomed by African Americans, and civil rights movement, globally. It has also brought the American justice system, into focus. Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the trial, and institute reforms of it justice system.

Dr Kede Aihie, UK Lawyer, Publisher of Nigerian Magazine

Darnella Frazier: The Heroine in the George Floyd Murder Trial

Epa Ogie Eboigbe

On Tuesday April 20, 2021, former Minneapolis Police Officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted on all counts against him, in the unlawful killing of George Floyd in May 2020. The jury verdict was coming almost one year after Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, in an incident that sparked global protests against Police brutality, and pushed the #BlackLivesMatter campaign to a higher level.

A lot has been written and said about the trial, the expectations and the verdict which shot up anxiety in the United States and beyond, on what could happen should the ex-Policeman be found not guilty, in view of previous outcomes of cases of Police brutality against blacks and people of other races.

It is indisputable that the single piece of evidence which nailed Chauvin and made the verdict what it has become, is the video footage of the heinous murder scene which stormed the world stage via TV and social media. It was the recording of George Floyd’s death, that ignited widespread racial-justice protests and unrest worldwide, and it was what made the jury find the ex-cop guilty on all counts.

Darnella Frazier: The Heroine!

Teenager, Darnella Frazier, captured George Floyd’s death on her cellphone, and the video shaped the Chauvin trial, no doubt.

Darnella was 17 years old when she filmed Floyd’s arrest, and uploaded it to Facebook, igniting international protests over racism and police brutality.

She was walking with her 9-year-old cousin to get some snacks at the store, when they witnessed George Floyd being arrested outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis at the corner of 38th and Chicago Avenue on May 25, 2020.

By capturing the arrest and sharing it on social media, she supplied a huge piece of evidence that eventually led to the conviction of Derek Chauvin, with the jury, like millions of people around the world, watching the footage, as admitted. The video showed Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck and enabled the incident to be examined frame by frame, to fully make clear each move that led to Floyd’s death.

Darnella’s video and authoritative evidence during the trial, helped tell the story of the incident, with the jury finding the ex-cop guilty on all three counts of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Not even the desperate and concerted effort of the defence Lawyer, to turn the video round to his advantage, could deny the obvious murder, as seen by millions all over the world, courtesy of Darnella Frazier.

Darnella Frazier’s Lamentation

The young lady, who is now 18 years old, was among the first witnesses to be called by the Prosecution to testify, and she said in court that she regretted not physically engaging the four officers at the scene.

She said: “It’s been nights I stayed up apologising and apologising to George Floyd for not doing more, and not physically interacting, and not saving his life”. It wasn’t right. He was suffering. He was in pain”.

Her Bitter-Sweet Joy

When the verdict was announced in Minneapolis on Tuesday, she posted on her Facebook page: “George Floyd, we did it!! Justice has been served”.

There is no doubt that Darnella Frazier, a student at Augsburg Fairview Academy, a high school in Minneapolis, is a heroine, and I am sure that her bravery in that moment can never be forgotten. The dictionary says a heroine is a ‘brave woman’, ‘superwoman’, ‘champion’, ‘conqueror’, ‘an idol’. Darnella Frazier is all this now.

Even some jurors who had not seen the video before the trial, had the opportunity to review it step by step, and be convinced about what transpired.

Nigeria and Lessons Learned

There are those in other countries who will say she could only capture the video because of the country she is in, and that the Police in a place like Nigeria would have seized the phone from her and even assaulted her to boot. This is true. Others also say that the Nigerian judicial system may not have been fully disposed to accepting her video as evidence, in a ‘high-tension’ murder trial like this.

However, there are many lessons to learn from this, both in legal and policing terms. The average mobile phone has a camera that can help solve crimes, and provide evidence as in the Chauvin case. In a country where the installation of public cameras has not been successfully implemented, citizens can be empowered to use their cameras to support the policing and judicial systems. We need laws that will empower and provide protection to citizens, so that they can shoot scenes of crimes and Police brutality. Such videos should be acceptable, too, in trials.

Epa Ogie Eboigbe, Lagos