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Ex-Officer Awaits Sentencing After Conviction in Floyd's Murder; DOJ Opens Investigation into Minneapolis Policing Practices; Ohio Police Officer Fatally Shoots Teenage Girl Holding Knife. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2021 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[11:00:24]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for joining us at this hour.

I want to show you a photograph, the new booking photo just released by the Minnesota Department of Corrections of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer, now a convicted murderer. The jury handing down that verdict yesterday for the murder of George Floyd.

Chauvin now faces decades in prison. He'll find out his sentence eight weeks from now.

As the judge read the verdict and Chauvin was removed from the courtroom in handcuffs, celebrations erupted on the streets of Minneapolis and across the country. A collective sigh of relief, albeit potentially momentary.

For millions of Americans, there is newfound optimism this morning that change is coming to the country's criminal justice system. Another sign of that just this morning. The attorney general of the United States, Merrick Garland, announced last hour the Department of Justice is launching a sweeping investigation into the policing practices of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Listen

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The investigation I am announcing today will assess whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force including during protests. The investigation will also assess whether the MPD engages in discriminatory conduct and whether its treatment of those with behavioral health disabilities is unlawful. It will include a comprehensive review of the Minneapolis Police Department's policies, training, supervision and use of force investigations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: We'll see what comes of that. But less than 24 hours after the jury delivered its historic verdict,

George Floyd's brother, Philonise, he talked to CNN about what this moment means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: The moment I heard guilty, guilty, guilty, I was excited and felt like I had just won a championship. It felt like the world had won a championship, because African-Americans, we feel like we never get justice.

It's not about black. It's not about white. It's not about Asian. It is only one race, and that's the human race.

The world let it be known that we all can breathe again because justice for George means freedom for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Members of the Floyd family will be joining us shortly.

But, first, let's start with a real sign of the ripple effects of the Chauvin verdict. The Department of Justice announcing it is going to be investigating -- it is now investigating the Minneapolis Police Department.

CNN's Evan Perez is joining us now. He's live at the Justice Department with more.

Evan, what is this investigation going to look like that Merrick Garland just announced? What are they going to do?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be a month' long, very invasive physical, essentially, of this department. They're going to look at everything from the training that these officers get to the practice, the policies that are put into place and whether there's a pattern, Kate, in the way policing is carried out, whether there is excessive force is used too often, whether there's discriminatory conduct that's essentially either aided or abetted or welcomed by the overall structure of this police department.

And also how they interact with people who have behavioral issues, this is going to be a month' long thing that community members will be able to talk to investigators from the Justice Department. And once this happens, the courts then would become involved. And here is what the attorney general had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: If the Justice Department concludes that there's a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing, we will issue a public report of our conclusions. The Justice Department has the ability to bring a civil lawsuit asking a federal court to provide injunctive relief that orders the MPD to change its policies and practices to avoid further violations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, Kate, the key here is for there to be changes with this police department. And, look, there are examples of successful pattern and practice, consent decrees. You have the Los Angeles police department which went through one of these years ago.

[11:05:03]

In the last four years, however, the Trump administration didn't like these things. They said these were essentially demoralizing to police officers, and they believe they led to a rise in crime. Merrick Garland rescinded those orders from Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, and this is the first of what I expect to be many of these types of investigations with police around the country.

BOLDUAN: Evan, thank you very much.

Let's go now to Minneapolis. CNN's Josh Campbell, he's standing by for us there.

Josh, first, it was the verdict and now it's this federal investigation Evan was just let out into -- Evan was just talking about into the whole Minneapolis police department.

From your past experience with the FBI, I mean, what does this mean?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, there's no national police force in the United States. Police departments are under state and local control. But the federal government has the ability to step in and launch investigations if there's indication that a particular police department is violating civil rights.

And that is what we're seeing today. The Biden administration saying they will assert federal jurisdiction here to launch this pattern and practice investigation. I can tell you I talk to police officers all the time.

And no one likes someone looking over their shoulder, but good police officers know that oftentimes corruption and illegality can't be changed from within. You need the outside influence. That certainly what appears to be what the Justice Department is doing.

And I think to quote the prosecutor in this case, as we heard him in the closing argument, the worst thing for good police is bad police. It sounds like the Biden administration is taking that seriously.

Finally, it's worth nothing that b my count, this is now the fourth investigation associated with the death of George Floyd that's been launched. There was a state investigation, there's an ongoing FBI investigation. The state human rights commission here launched an investigation into police department, and now, the U.S. Department of Justice, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So interesting.

So, Josh, you were also one of the few people in the courtroom when the verdict was read yesterday. What was it like?

CAMPBELL: The tension in the room was simply palpable. That's the best way to describe it. Going in, the room was quiet. Derek Chauvin, very silent, very quiet, kind of dazing off to the seat where the jurors would soon enter the room.

I think the most anxiety I saw in that courtroom came from the prosecution, one of the o prosecutors in particular, eyes darting around. No doubt that anxiety building and the run-up to that verdict.

But the most emotional moment came from the brother of George Floyd who was seated off to my right. He spent nearly the entire trial in prayer.

I asked him after the verdict was read what he was praying for. He said he was praying for a guilty verdict. He said, in his words, as an African-American we usually don't see justice. So very powerful moment there.

Now, for his part, Derek Chauvin, who obviously was found guilty on those three counts, he's currently in a confinement. He's being held by himself in a jail cell. We're told by the prison that is for his own safety.

The judge said his sentencing could come in about eight weeks. That's when we will learn what the ultimate penalty will be here. Of course, this is not the only trial that we are watching, that this community is watching. Those three other officers who've been charged with aiding and abetting the actions of Derek Chauvin, their trial set to begin in August -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Josh, thank you. Great to have you on the ground. Thank you so much.

So, as Josh was pointing out, the focus now shifts in part to how long Derek Chauvin is going to spend behind bars. Many folks saying that the sentence is just as important as the conviction in terms of what signal it sends to the country.

Joining me now for more on that is CNN legal analyst and civil rights attorney, Areva Martin.

Areva, we'll get to the sentencing. But I also want to get your take real quick on what you think of this DOJ investigation that was just announced into the practices of the police department.

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, I'm elated, Kate, to see that the federal Department of Justice is intervening, is going to go into that police department and do a thorough investigation of its policies, its practice, and supervision, how it interacts with citizens involved in every day arrests that they make, how it involves -- how it interacts with citizens involving protests, because we've heard a lot of complaints coming from citizens on the ground, from activists who have said they've been pepper-sprayed, they've been shot with rubber bullets, they've been harassed with respect to protests that have erupted in that city. Also, I'm so happy to see this investigation is going to focus on how

people treat individuals with disabilities, with behavioral health issues. We know in this city there have been allegations about the mistreatment of individuals with mental health and other disabilities. So, I think this is a significant step forward as we try to address these issues of systemic racism in police departments, and particularly, the Minneapolis Police Department.

[11:10:04]

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about the sentencing now. It will likely be eight weeks before we hear from the judge on this. Can you talk me through what you think will happen?

MARTIN: Yeah, a couple of things will happen, Kate. First of all, we know with respect to the most serious charge, the second degree murder charge, it carries up to 40 years in prison. We know third degree has a 25-year maximum sentence and the second degree manslaughter has a ten-year maximum sentence.

But in the state of Minnesota, like many states, there are sentencing guidelines to make sure across the state, individuals are treated consistently. The sentencing guidelines in the state of Minnesota suggest that with respect to that second and third degree murder charge, that the presumptive sentencing, the guideline sentencing is about 12.5, 12-1/2 years. And with respect to second degree manslaughter, it's approximately four years.

But we know the prosecution made two filings with respect to this case asking that the sentencing guidelines be enhanced, that there be a departure from those guidelines and the sentencing be higher, particularly closer to the maximum based on five aggregating factors that were identified by the prosecution, factors such as that the crime was committed in front of a child. We heard the 9-year-old testified that she was mad and even sad with respect to what she witnessed.

The fact that this crime involved particularly cruelty, and that goes to placing George Floyd in those handcuffs, putting him in a prone position. Those handcuffs being dug into his hands as he laid in that prone position. One of the other aggravating factor that they point to, is the fact that the crime was committed with respect to three or other people, three or more people involved.

So, there are five aggravating factors. The prosecution is asking the judge to look at those and determine that the sentencing guidelines, there should be a departure and the maximum sentence in this case should be applied.

BOLDUAN: The three other officers that were at the scene, think eve been charged also in connection with Floyd's death. They're still set to face trial in a couple months, later this summer.

What do you think, if anything, Areva, what do you think this trial, this verdict means for their trial? MARTIN: They're in big trouble, Kate. These three guilty verdicts for

Derek Chauvin, the jurors have spoken. They have said this conduct that these officers engaged in on May 25th is illegal, it was excessive force and this excessive force caused George Floyd's death.

We saw the defense put on by Derek Chauvin. The jurors rejected that defense. These other defendants are likely to have been planning to rely on a similar defense. That defense now, as we know, dead on arrival.

One thing, though, that we should expect to see, particularly with former Officer Lane, we know he had just been on the job about four days. I think his lawyer did an interview with CNN last year where he said Lane was the only officer that tried to render some kind of aid to Mr. Floyd, he said let's turn him over on his side. Apparently, he got into the ambulance with him, tried to provide CPR. So, we should expect his lawyer should ask he be severed, that he not be tried with the other officers. We should expect there to be motions for change of venue, motions for continuance given all the media attention, given the response from the community around the convictions -- the conviction as it relates to Derek Chauvin.

So, I think we're going to see motions being made by these lawyers and probably Thao, too. He was the former officer standing in front of the bystanders. His position I expect to be that he didn't actually put hands on George Floyd. He wasn't involved in putting him in the prone position and he wasn't seen in any of that video actually kneeling on George Floyd's body.

So, we should expect those lawyers to engage in legal filings to try to distinguish their individual clients from the ones that were involved in putting Mr. Floyd in that prone position and kneeling on his body.

BOLDUAN: Areva, thank you very much.

MARTIN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: So, almost the exact moment millions of people were feeling relief as the judge read the Chauvin verdict, another American city was struck with another tragedy, the death of a black teenage girl killed by police. This deadly shooting yesterday happened in Columbus, Ohio.

And according to police, officers were called to the scene of a fight and someone trying to stab people. Shots were fired and what appears to be mere moments after police arrived.

Body camera video has already been released. It appears to show her holding a knife as she was shot. As we learned, there is much more that needs to be known.

Nick Valencia is joining us now with more detail on this.

[11:15:02]

She's live and -- he's live for us now.

Nick, we've heard from police. We've heard from a neighbor. There is this chaotic body camera.

Can you walk us through what is known right now, what isn't.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate. Good morning.

We should start by addressing how uncharacteristic it is for a police department in this country to release footage of a fatal police shooting less than 24 hours after the incident happened.

But this story, this fatal shooting of 16-year-old Makiyah Bryant started to trend online, started to trend on social media. And police said they felt compelled to get ahead of the narrative and the rumors to show what they believe was a justified police shooting.

In it, the video you're about to see, is bodycam footage from the perspective of the police officer who fired the fatal shots. You'll hear four shots in this video. It shows what appears to be a fight in progress that only continues to escalate as officers arrive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, hey. Get down. Get down. Get down. Get down.

(GUNSHOTS)

(INAUDIBLE)

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Before you see Makiyah Bryant fall to the ground. But police released a slowed-down version of what happened. That video maybe a little chaotic to really understand what happened. But in this, you see just before Makiyah shot and killed, she's pulling back a knife as she's about to use it. That sort of what appears. Now, the mayor of Columbus gave an emotional address to the city last night saying the officer involved in this shooting took action to protect another young girl in the community.

And police say this video you're seeing here, the slowed-down version shows the officer only had a split second to react. Makiyah's mom came out to say she's a peaceful girl.

You know, this is complicated, not only, as you mentioned, this happening 30 minutes prior to the verdict of Derek Chauvin being read, at a time when this country is grappling with tension here. It's particularly important to address just what it means to be black in America, policing in America. All of that is happening as this happened here in Columbus, Ohio. And also what complicates things here, Kate, there are local reports that Makiyah Bryant was the one who called police for safety. All of that will be part of the investigation and we'll see how all that plays out here throughout the day -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also extremely important to remember, as we learn from what happened to George Floyd, first reports, first press releases out, they are not the full story.

VALENCIA: That's' right.

BOLDUAN: We know that from the George Floyd story. So, there's much more to come. Thank you so much.

VALENCIA: Good to see you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you, too. Thank you.

Coming up, after a year of pain and suffering, up next, we're going to speak with George Floyd's aunt and cousin.

Also, the focus shifting from Minneapolis to Washington. With this verdict and -- will this verdict and this moment break through the bitter partisanship on Capitol Hill? A gut check on that is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:29]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERREENCE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: And I believe because of prayer, we got the verdict we wanted.

GROUP: Amen.

FLOYD: We got on our knees. Some of us stood up, but we asked the right person -- asked the right one. We said, God, we need justice. We need it now, and he answered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That is Terrence Floyd, George Floyd's brother just after the verdict was announced, and Floyd's killer, now a convicted murderer.

Since George Floyd's death last year, his family has been pushing and calling and praying for justice. That is really what last summer's historic protests were all about, of course.

So, what does today mean for the Floyd family and their quest for justice?

Joining me is George Floyd's aunt, Angela Harrelson, and his cousin, Paris Stevens. What an amazing 24 hours it has been since we last spoke. Angela, my first question to you yesterday before all of this was, how are you feeling? You said overwhelmed. How are you feeling now today?

ANGELA HARRELSON, AUNT OF GEORGE FLOYD: I just feel like there's this pressure off. The anxiety has dropped, you know, quite a bit from yesterday because we just didn't know. We just didn't know.

It put a smile on my face-and just watching my family in the conference room, because we are all in there, pins and needles, and just seeing them with tears and the emotions and the hugs, and, you know, it was wonderful. It was like, my God, this was so hard. Lord knows this was so hard. We were just so relieved because historically, we don't get justice, we just don't.

So, to me, I was so relieved, and I was happy, happy. It was good to see my family that had been with us, to see them happy, too, happy with tears.

BOLDUAN: Were you able to get -- Paris, what was last night like? Were you able to get sleep?

I've been wondering if you want to sleep or there's no way you can sleep after this long journey, and no, it's not over, but you have this moment to breathe.

[11:25:03]

PARIS STEVENS, COUSIN OF GEORGE FLOYD: It was difficult to sleep. We were basically up most of the night.

HARRELSON: Talking.

STEVENS: Talking and thinking about from the beginning to the end of this trial what has happened, what we've been feeling all through out and taking phone calls from family and friends. It's just been a whirlwind, and I'm just glad this part of the journey is over. But, as you said, we will continue on. There's more work to do.

HARRELSON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Well, and, Paris, you've said -- something you've said over and over, and it stuck with me again yesterday, you said you have to keep walking the walk, the journey isn't over. What does that mean today?

STEVENS: It still means the same. Yes, this set a precedent for the future, and we have a little bit more hope now. We have a little bit more hope now. So, as you know, there was another shooting. So we don't know the dynamics with that, but we have to be in support of each other.

And, you know, I just wonder, is there another way? Does this always have to end in a death? We want police to do their job and to serve and protect, but are we using the excessive force or can we deescalate another way? We don't want it to always end in death. And all police officers do

not have ill intentions. We know that. But correction has to be made. And with this guilty verdict, it's a step in the right direction that those who act ill-advised will be sentenced.

HARRELSON: And held accountable.

STEVENS: And held accountable.

BOLDUAN: Angela, the sentencing is coming in eight weeks. But one thing I'm wondering today, is about forgiveness, forgiving Derek Chauvin. I -- is that something that you have even begun to be able to work through? Can you?

HARRELSON: You know, coming from a woman of faith, especially in our culture. Most black people, we have been through a lot of hard times, and forgiving is something that we -- you know, that's something with our faith that we really work towards, and that's something with each family member is different.

For me, that's something I had to start working on. I had to start working on. Even though Derek Chauvin is going to prison, I don't want all that pain and anger to imprison me as a human being, as a person, because, like I said, like I told someone, even though this was a place of darkness that it happened, there was hatred, there was anger, the world showed us so much love, showed us so much love they poured out to us.

Like I told many, I've never seen that, so much love in my lifetime. I don't even know if I will see it again in my lifetime, but that love overshadowed the hate. It will always overshadow hate, and the process of forgiving needs to start.

You can't solve anything on hate. You can't hate someone forever. We all have to move on. We all have to move on.

And I pray for my family, and I send prayers to everyone, even to his family that is dealing with this, because even though this is justice for us, and it is, but for his family, the ones that have anything to do -- I don't know if the man have parents, if Chauvin has parents -- I don't know much about him. But they have a loss as well. They do.

And the Floyd family, we're not mean people. We come from a praying family.

BOLDUAN: That's one thing that has been evident throughout, is that your family is a beautiful family and your capacity to love and forgive is amazing and truly awe-inspiring.

Angela, Paris, thank you. Thank you so much.

HARRELSON: Thank you.

STEVENS: Thanks for having us.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, how does the country harness this emotion -- harness this.