13 Key Moments That Shaped the Trial of Derek Chauvin

In testimony from 45 witnesses over three weeks, attorneys returned to the trial’s central questions: what caused George Floyd’s death, and were Mr. Chauvin’s actions justified and lawful.

In the three weeks of the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, who a jury found guilty on Tuesday afternoon, dozens of witnesses testified; hours of video of George Floyd’s arrest were played, paused and replayed; and two sides of the courtroom presented opposing narratives to a jury tasked with determining the fate of a former police officer charged with murder in one of the most watched trials in decades. Through witness testimony, several distinct themes emerged as the most crucial points of contention: whether Mr. Chauvin violated policy when he knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes; what role, if any, drugs played in Mr. Floyd’s death; and what kind of impact the arrest may have had on the people who witnessed it. These themes became clear almost immediately, in tearful testimony from bystander witnesses and criticism of Mr. Chauvin from experts called by the prosecution. In the final days of the trial, the defense brought the opposite account to the stand, giving the former police officer some support after more than two weeks of almost entirely critical testimony.