TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State Sen. Bobby Powell Jr., who is also the chair of Florida's Legislative Black Caucus, spoke Tuesday with NewsChannel 5 from Tallahassee following the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
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Powell said he was in a committee meeting Tuesday afternoon when he learned about the news.
"Today, the evidence showed that this individual who committed murder on tape was proven guilty, in a system where many of us start to believe that it fails us often. Today, partly justice was served, justice will ultimately be served when we see what the sentence is," Powell said.
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Powell also said the verdict is a step in the right direction for the entire country but cautions more work needs to be done for others.
"Many times, when a police officer has been charged with murdering a black person that those charges sometimes do not stick and they have been appealed. Today is one the few times we can say we saw a guilty verdict and a lot of my colleagues, including myself, are really breathing a sigh of relief and starting to once again believe in the system," Powell said.
Floyd's death in May 2020 prompted protests for days across the U.S. and around the world last summer.
Chauvin is scheduled to be sentenced in about eight weeks.