WASHINGTON-(MaraviPost)-US President Joe Biden has said the conviction of a former police officer in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America”.

White officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on African-American Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, sparking mass protests against racism.

He was found guilty on Tuesday of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Sentencing is likely to happen in two months, and Chauvin could spend decades in jail. He is expected to appeal against the verdict.

In a phone call with Mr Floyd’s family after the verdict was announced, the president was heard saying: “At least now there is some justice.”

In televised remarks shortly afterwards, Mr Biden said that such a verdict was “much too rare”.

“We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done. We have to look at it as we did for those nine minutes and 29 seconds,” he said.

Vice-President Kamala Harris urged lawmakers to pass the George Floyd bill aimed at reforming policing in the US.

“This bill is part of George Floyd’s legacy. This work is long overdue,” she said.

What other reaction has there been?

People gathered outside the courtroom and on the intersection in Minneapolis where Mr Floyd was killed to celebrate the verdict.

Cheers broke out, drivers honked their car horns and people blocked traffic chanting: “George Floyd” and “All three counts”, referring to the three charges of which Chauvin was convicted.

“It’s a good day in Minneapolis,” said 21-year-old Kenneth Nwachi.

One local resident told the Associated Press news agency she felt grateful and relieved, while another said: “There’s some form of justice that’s coming.”

Crowds also gathered in other cities to celebrate the verdict.

But they also said that more needed to be done.

Police officers have rarely been convicted – if they are charged at all – for deaths that occur in custody, and the verdict in the trial has been widely seen as an indication of how the US legal system will treat such cases in future.

At a family news conference, Mr Floyd’s brother Philonise said: “Today, we are able to breathe again.”

The Floyd family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said the conviction marked a “turning point in history” for the US.

According to the Washington Post newspaper, 274 people have been killed by US police in 2021.

Shortly before the verdict on Tuesday, a police officer in the state of Ohio shot dead a 16-year-old black girl while responding to an emergency call over an attempted stabbing.

What happened in the courtroom?

It took the 12-member jury less than a day to reach their verdict.

Chauvin, whose face was obscured with a coronavirus mask, showed little reaction as the verdict was read, remaining quiet and looking around the room. His bail was revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.h

The verdict followed a highly charged, three-week trial in which 45 witnesses took the stand and several hours of video footage were shown.

Several witnesses broke down in tears as they watched graphic footage of Mr Floyd’s death and described feeling “helpless” as events unfolded.

Expert witnesses on behalf of the state testified that Mr Floyd died from a lack of oxygen due to the manner of restraint employed by Chauvin and his colleagues.

Chauvin himself chose not to testify, invoking his right to not incriminate himself with his responses.

History turns on these kind of moments, and the conviction of Derek Chauvin will be seen as a landmark event in the ongoing struggle for black equality.

The video of George Floyd’s murder that went viral revealed to the world the scourge of police brutality, a disease America has never been able to cure. This verdict is unlikely to be a panacea.

It’s a tragedy of American history that acts of police violence have often been the spur for racial change.

In the early Sixties, the sight of police dogs lunging at protesters in Birmingham, Alabama contributed to the passage of legislation that demolished southern segregation. The pictures of police clubbing protesters in Selma, Alabama led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

But while the murder of George Floyd has brought about a racial reckoning, that’s a very different thing from saying its brought about racial reconciliation. African-Americans will see justice in this verdict, but so many are looking for fairness and equality in all the aspects of their lives.

What happens next?

The sentencing is expected to take place in two months, with the most serious charge carrying a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

Chauvin’s defence team has not yet commented on the verdict, but is expected to appeal.

According to reports, one of the most likely avenues of appeal is the huge publicity given to the case, with the defence team arguing that this might have influenced the jury.

Also, Presiding Judge Peter Cahill said on Monday that public comments by Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters could be grounds for an appeal.

Over the weekend, Ms Waters had urged protesters to “stay on the street” and “get more confrontational” if Chauvin was acquitted.

US defence lawyer Mark Geragos called the conviction a “preordained conclusion”, telling Fox News that “given the tsunami of coverage and public consternation, the best he ever could have hoped for was a hung jury”.

Three other officers present when Floyd was killed will go on trial later this year.

What happened to George Floyd?

The 46-year-old bought a pack of cigarettes at a convenience store in May 2020. A shop assistant believed he had used a counterfeit note and called the police after Mr Floyd refused to give the cigarettes back.

When police arrived, they ordered Mr Floyd out of his parked car and handcuffed him. A struggle ensued when officers tried to put a screaming Mr Floyd in their squad car. They wrestled him to the ground and pinned him under their weight.

Chauvin pressed his knee into the back of Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.

As he was being restrained, Mr Floyd said more than 20 times that he could not breathe, pleading for his mother and begging “please, please, please”.

When the ambulance arrived, Mr Floyd was motionless. He was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Source: BBC

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James Melonas thinks the state’s national forests are a reflection of the communities across North Carolina.

“The challenges we face in the national forest are societal. These aren’t just Forest Service issues. They are issues facing all of our communities and everyone living in North Carolina,” said Melonas, the new forest supervisor for the state’s four national forests.

The U.S. Forest Service selected the 44-year-old Melonas last fall to replace retiring supervisor Allen Nicholas.

As supervisor, he manages a $24 million budget, 213 employees across the state and the protection of more than 1.2 million acres of forestland. 

Melonas’ arrival at the state headquarters in Asheville is at a pivotal moment for North Carolina’s two largest national forests: Pisgah and Nantahala. Later this year, Melonas will finalize the land management plan that will guide the future of 1 million acres of federal forest in the mountains.

He’ll also oversee the coastal Croatan National Forest and central Uwharrie National Forest.

Setting priorities

In an interview with Carolina Public Press, Melonas said he will focus on building relationships with users and address development pressure, recreational demands, forest restoration and the impact of climate change.

Strains from a growing population and the bulging volume of forest users are among his biggest concerns. In 2020, over 7 million people visited the state’s national forests, making them among the most popular in the nation.

Before taking the helm in North Carolina, Melonas was the deputy supervisor in North Carolina before his promotion in 2017 to forest supervisor of Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico.

He led the work on 1.6 million acres of public land that experienced extreme drought conditions during his tenure. 

Although New Mexico and North Carolina have vastly different landscapes, national forests nationwide face similar issues, including tighter budgets, less personnel and the existential threat of climate change.

“I think of climate change as a stressor on everything we do,” Melonas said. “We have such a large portfolio and have always been limited in what we would like to do and what we have the capacity to do.”

His strategy is “being intentional about how we set priorities, not just internally, but that they are shared priorities,” he said.

Before serving in New Mexico, Melonas worked closely with national forest stakeholders in the early stages of the Nantahala-Pisgah forest planning process, which began in 2012.

According to Lang Hornthal of EcoForesters, an Asheville-based nonprofit organization, Melonas had a significant impact on the plan.

“Anyone that has worked with James before would want to work with him again,” said Hornthal, who is a member of the leadership team of the Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Partnership, a collaborative group of public and private organizations that formed to support the development of the plan.

“From my seat at the table, he appreciates the enormous amount of work that was put into this process by our members and what it means that we have stuck together.”

Melonas said his appreciation of communities that rely on public lands was formed as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi, a small landlocked nation in southeastern Africa, where he worked at a national park. 

His focus as a volunteer was on communities that bordered the park. Among the issues were herds of hippos and elephants damaging cropland.

The takeaway from the experience, he said, is the deep connection of people to the land.

“It looks different, obviously, in different places, but that’s the common denominator. The interplay between the people and the land is inextricable.”

In New Mexico, Melonas formed close relationships with Native American tribes and pueblos living near Santa Fe National Forest. 

He intends to do the same in North Carolina and strengthen connections with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and other tribes that have cultural sites within national forest boundaries.

He is also encouraging more engagement with communities left out of the development of forest service projects, such as Black Americans who live near public lands throughout the state.

“We need to get ownership in a local community so [future] projects are seen as community projects,” he said. “We can be more thoughtful when we are designing projects and engaging those communities.”

Forest plans

Among his priorities as supervisor is finalizing the Proposed Forest Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, which was released in February 2020. 

A final management plan will be signed by Melonas later this year.

“I’m feeling really good about where we are. Even though it’s been a long process and challenging, everyone agrees that the partnerships and relationships we’ve formed over this time have been really important,” he said.

Nevertheless, he’s pragmatic about what the plan can accomplish on its own.

“If we had a hundred years, we could keep refining some of these things [in the plan]. Ultimately, we have to be realistic of what we can ask of the plan,” he said. “There are just things that are too complex, either ecologically or socially, for the plan to address. There is just no one answer.” 

Instead, the management plan will create a framework to foster a more productive conversation about issues in the forest, particularly in areas where groups and individuals tend to disagree, such as land protection or timber harvesting.

Melonas will also oversee issues facing the state’s two smaller national forests: Croatan and Uwharrie.

Currently, he said, the Forest Service is still coordinating rebuilding the areas of Croatan National Forest that suffered an estimated $17 million in damage from Hurricane Florence in 2018. 

Much of the harm was to roads, which were impassable due to fallen trees and culverts blown out by rushing water. 

“As we look at recovery, we’re mindful of the fact we’re going to experience more intense storms in the forest,” he said.

In both forests, he’ll oversee widespread restoration projects to replace loblolly pine with native plant communities, such as longleaf pine habitat, to restore forestland that is more resilient to climate change.

And statewide, a central task is balancing the needs of more users in a rapidly developing state where increasing demand is putting pressure on recreational resources.

“One of the things that hit me coming back to North Carolina was the amount of development that occurred in the last four years,” he said. 

His job, as he sees it, is to rise to that challenge and anticipate future issues around sustainable recreation, development and climate change.

“Everyone in North Carolina benefits from public lands and forests,” he said. 

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The police chief of Minneapolis Medaria Arradondo has testified that illegal excessive force was used by Derek Chauvin in the arrest of George Floyd.

The police chief of Minneapolis, Minnesota United states Medaria Arradondo has proclaimed under oath — on the sixth day of the international attention garnering trial, that ex-officer Derek Chauvin violated the agency’s policy on the use of force during the fatal arrest of George Floyd.

He told the court that Chauvin’s treatment of the now-deceased 46-year-old African-American man breached department regulations.

In the United States, it is highly unusual for a police chief to testify and give evidence against one of his own officers.

Arradondo appears to be taking a stand, literally:

”To continue to apply that level of force to a person proned out, handcuffed behind their back, that in no way shape or form is anything that is by policy, part of our training and is certainly not part of our ethics or values.”

The defence team claims Floyd died of drug use and pre-existing health conditions and not due to suffocation from Chauvin having knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

In an exchange with the prosecution, the emergency doctor who pronounced Floyd dead after trying to resuscitate him confirmed Asphyxia.

Chauvin — facing up to 40 years in prison if convicted, has denied charges of second-and third-degree murder, and manslaughter.

Three other officers also face aiding and abetting charges in the death of George Floyd.

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