(NEXSTAR) – George Floyd’s girlfriend, Courteney Ross, said that she was confident that the jury would return a conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of her boyfriend.
She also expressed hope that the jury’s decision would lead to justice for people who have been wrongfully convicted.
“There’s going to be change in the future, and we still have a lot of reparations to make from the past so cases need to be re-opened and we need to re-examine them.”
Ross, who testified and gave the courtroom an intimate portrait of the Floyd that she knew, said she wasn’t able to watch much of the evidence presented over the past weeks.
“My son has seen one moment of it in the past couple of weeks, and that was enough to bring him to his knees,” Ross said. “So, it was too much.”
Chauvin was convicted of two counts of murder and one of manslaughter in the death of Floyd, a case that sparked a national reckoning on race and policing.
Ross also commented on her work as an educator at the high school attended by Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old fatally shot by police just over a week ago.
“Daunte was one that, of course I was drawn to, because he was a fun, silly boy, I loved his energy,” she said. “The loss of a student is very different than the loss of a loved one.”
Ross added that if Floyd was still here he would say, “You know, let’s start taking care of each other a little bit better and love each other a little bit more.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.