Attorney Madeleine Simmons represented George Floyd’s family along with Attorney Benjamin Crump in the civil matter against the city of Minneapolis.
She was in the courtroom Tuesday with the criminal defense team and the Floyd family as the verdict came down.
“It was an incredible moment, it was a historic verdict we and the family have been on edge for 11 months since this happened about whether or not Derek Chauvin would be found guilty of murder and seeing that he was found guilty of all three charges was an overwhelming moment for us in the family,” Simmons said.
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Simmons said she hopes the case can help toward the momentum for change.
"Hopefully this is a step toward achieving justice and more cases like this. As lawyers that work in this arena we see inequity, we see unfairness, we see racism and that is real and so this verdict certainly sends the right message that Americans are going to hold wrongdoers accountable no matter who they are or what their job is but we have to do more,” Simmons said.
Simmons also said she will work next to make sure the George Floyd Justice Policing Act gets passed.
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“We continue to lobby our legislators about putting in laws at the state level and at the federal level and even ordinances at the municipal level that push reform more towards mental health services or put more towards training in the law-enforcement arena,” Simmons said.
