MINNEAPOLIS: Public affairs shop Finsbury Glover Hering played a key role assisting the prosecution in Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd, according to Axios.
On Tuesday, a jury found the former Minneapolis police officer guilty on all three charges:
Second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On May 25, 2020, Chauvin pinned Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, to the ground, pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck, causing his death. Floyd pleaded, “I can’t breathe” during the fatal physical restraint.
Axios reported that special prosecutor Neal Katyal, a partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC, had brought on the FGH team, which monitored and analyzed media coverage and social media. During the high-stakes trial, Katyal believed it would be essential for the prosecution to consider the trial, the possibility of an appeal and how the verdict would be received by the public, according to the report.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told Axios that FGH was "a completely integral and invaluable part of the team" and its work was "essential to helping us understand the broader conversation around the case" and "the world around us."
The firm was rechristened Finsbury Glover Hering this year after the merger of WPP agencies Finsbury, Glover Park Group and Hering Schuppener. Finsbury and Hering Schuppener began a partnership in 2016 and were joined by Glover Park the following year.
Katyal was part of the special assistant attorneys general who worked pro bono on the prosecution. Neither Katyal nor Finsbury Glover Hering were available for comment.
Chauvin is scheduled to be sentenced in June; he has 90 days after the April 20 verdict to appeal. The trial of three other former officers at the scene of Floyd’s death is scheduled to begin on August 23.