George Floyd case: Why Ghana's name was prominent in the victorious conviction of Derek Chauvin

Before his eventual conviction by Judge Peter Cahill - the judge sitting on the case of the brutal murder of African-American, George Floyd, in 2020, the world had already quite found him guilty.

Without a doubt, those 9 minutes and 29 seconds that was captured on camera of how the former Minneapolis Police officer, Derek Chauvin, insensitively snuffed the life out of George Floyd, received a historic conviction on Tuesday, April 20, 2021.

In the words of Philonise Floyd, brother of the slain George, "Today, we are able to breathe again."

The BBC reported the conviction as, "A US jury has found a former police officer guilty of murder over the death of African-American George Floyd on a Minneapolis street last year.

"Derek Chauvin, 45, was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes during his arrest last May.

"The widely watched footage sparked worldwide protests against racism and excessive use of force by police.

"Chauvin was found guilty on three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter."

How did Ghana's name come up in all of this?

After the conviction, and as the whole world jubilated with the family of the late George Floyd for this monumental feat in the history of America's judicial system, particularly in cases involving minority races, Philonise Floyd addressed the world.

Visibly showing his elation at the verdict and heaving a great sigh of relief, Philonise, surrounded by close friends and family, described what a historic moment that was, while paying tribute to Emmitt Till.

"I feel relieved today that I finally have the opportunity to hopefully get some sleep. A lot of days, I pray, and I hope, and I was speaking everything into existence. I said I have faith that he will be convicted

"It's been a long journey and it's been less than a year and the person that comes to my mind is 1955, and to me, he was the first George Floyd. Now, that was Emmitt Till," he said.

In showing appreciation to people who have journeyed with them till this point and how all of those encouragements portrayed the global interest in his brother's murder, Philonise Floyd listed out some of the countries from where they had received a lot of support.

Ghana's name easily flew out of his mouth as he showed his gratitude, explaining that it is the reason he will continue to fight for minorities around the world.

"I'm going to put up a fight everyday because I'm just not fighting for George anymore, I'm fighting for everybody around this world. I get calls, I get DMs, people from Brazil, from Ghana, from Germany - everybody, London, Italy, they're all saying the same thing: we won't be able to breathe until you are able to breathe. Today, we are able to breathe again," he explained.

However, Chauvin has no prior criminal record. The state's guidelines say that for such a person, the presumptive sentence for both second-degree and third-degree murder is 12 1/2 years. The judge is given discretion to hand down a sentence between 10 years and eight months and 15 years for each.

The state has asked for a tougher sentence than the recommendations provide, reports the CNN.