Floyd's Brother On Verdict: 'I Was Just Praying They Would Find Him Guilty'

By Vanessa Romo / NPR

Published April 20, 2021 at 11:41 AM PDT

This story was published more than 3 years ago.

People gathered outside the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, before the jury returned guilty verdicts against former officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd.

Updated April 20, 2021 at 5:44 PM ET

George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, was in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon when Judge Peter Cahill read the three guilty verdicts against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

As the first guilty verdict was read aloud, Philonise Floyd's clasped hands began shaking, according to a reporter inside the courtroom. They continued to tremble as Cahill recited the second guilty verdict. By the third time, Floyd's hands were shaking back, and he was nodding his head up and down with his eyes closed, and then he began weeping.

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"I was just praying they would find him guilty," Floyd told reporters after exiting the courtroom.

"As an African American, we usually never get justice," he said.

Many of George Floyd's relatives, who traveled to Minneapolis from Texas, took turns sitting in a chair reserved for them in the courtroom over the three weeks of testimony.