'This Is Never Going To Be Over': WCCO Talks 1-On-1 With George Floyd's Uncle
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The trial for Derek Chauvin finished this week. Convoys of Minnesota National Guard troops are returning home as more boards come down in Minneapolis. But those closest to George Floyd continue grappling with complicated emotions.
On Tuesday, a Hennepin County jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last Memorial Day.
It's a name and a face known round the world, but few knew George Perry Floyd like his mother's brother, Selwyn Jones. He sat down with WCCO-TV.
"It broke my heart to see my big boy had to battle like that, suffer like that," he said. "I have to live that every day of my life."
And he had to relive it as the graphic trial over his nephew's deaths unfolded on screens around the world.
"Just seeing them play certain scenes ... I think the one that got me the most was seeing the one that showed [exactly when] my nephew died," he said.
And it may have gotten to the jury too; they convicted Derek Chauvin for killing Floyd on all three charges.
WCCO asked Jones if there was any sense of relief with the verdict.
"Yeah, we know that a convicted murderer ain't running around. That's a relief," he said, adding, "This is never going to be over."
Jones says he will continue to join forces with those in similar situations in hopes they can get similar verdicts.
WCCO asked Jones if he feels his nephew has changed the world.
"I can't think of any other way than he was God's sacrificial lamb," he said.
Floyd's family plans to come back this summer for the anniversary of death, and then come back for the trial of the other three officers accused in his death.
Derek Chauvin will be sentenced on June 16. He faces up to 40 years in prison.