當?shù)貢r間4月20日下午，經(jīng)過近3周法庭審理，前白人警察德雷克·肖萬（Derek Chauvin）被控殺害非洲裔男子喬治·弗洛伊德案在美國明尼蘇達州明尼阿波利斯市宣判。

The jury swiftly and unanimously convicted Derek Chauvin of all the charges he faced – second- and third-degree murder, and manslaughter – after concluding that the white former Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in May through a criminal assault, by pinning him to the ground so he could not breathe.
陪審團迅速作出一致判決，認為德雷克·肖萬在去年5月喬治·弗洛伊德死亡案中，將其跪壓在地導致其不能呼吸的行為構成刑事犯罪，因此，判定肖萬二級謀殺、三級謀殺以及過失殺人三項罪名均成立。

【詞匯講解】

“Someone is convicted of+罪名”是一個正式的表達，表明這個人被法庭（陪審團）正式判定有罪，是有法律效力的，我們也可以用“the court/jury found someone guilty of +罪名”這個句式來替換，比如上文的句子就可以變成：the court/jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter；在法庭正式判決之前，這個人只能是“被告”（the defendant）或者“犯罪嫌疑人”（the suspect），這個人因什么罪名被警方正式指控就要用“someone is charged of + 罪名”或者其名詞形式搭配“the police bring a charge of +罪名 against someone”來表示，比如：He was charged of theft/The police brought a charge of theft against him.

與此相反，“某人被判無罪”可以有三種表達：一個是someone is cleared of all charges，例句：She was cleared of all charges and walked out of the court right after the verdict. （她被判無罪，當庭釋放。）另一個是acquittal，名詞，是法院所做出的正式“無罪判決”，動詞形式為someone is acquitted，如，Zimmerman is acquitted；還有一個是find someone not guilty，如：A jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder。

案件回顧

In a confrontation captured on video, Chauvin, a white veteran of the police force, pushed his knee into the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020. Chauvin and three fellow officers were attempting to arrest Floyd, accused of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store.
沖突現(xiàn)場拍攝的一段視頻顯示，2020年5月25日，資深白人警察肖萬將膝蓋壓在46歲的黑人男子弗洛伊德脖子上長達9分多鐘，事發(fā)時弗洛伊德戴著手銬，因被指在一家雜貨店用20美元的假鈔買煙，肖萬和其他三名警察正試圖逮捕他。

Floyd's death prompted protests against racism and police brutality in many US cities and other countries last summer, even as the world grappled with the coronavirus pandemic.
去年夏天，新冠疫情肆虐全球之際，弗洛伊德之死在美國多個城市以及世界其他國家引發(fā)了針對種族主義以及警察暴力的抗議活動。

The Minneapolis Police Department fired Chauvin and the three other officers the day after Floyd’s murder. The three others are due to face trial later this year on aiding-and-abetting charges.
明尼阿波利斯警察局在弗洛伊德死亡第二天就解雇了肖萬和其他三名警察。這三名警察將在今年晚些時候以協(xié)助和教唆罪受審。

【詞匯講解】

這里的aiding-and-abetting也是一個正式的罪名說法，因為用在charge之前充當修飾限定成分，所以中間加了連字符，正常的名詞寫法是aiding and abetting，有時也會用accessory來替換。Aid我們都很熟悉，就是“協(xié)助、幫助”的意思，abet則表示“to help or encourage someone to do something wrong or illegal”，即“幫助或教唆某人做壞事或違法的事”，所以我們也可以用動詞形式的aid and abet來表示相同的意思，比如：His accountant had aided and abetted him in the fraud.（他的會計在詐騙案中對他起到了協(xié)助和教唆的作用）。

八周后宣布量刑結果

After Judge Peter Cahill read and confirmed the verdict with the jury, he announced technical next steps.
法官彼得·卡希爾宣讀并與陪審團確認判決結果之后，宣布了之后的技術流程。

Cahill said the court would look at written arguments from Derek Chauvin "within one week" and issue factual findings on it. Then they will order a pre-sentencing investigation report, "returnable in four weeks." That will be followed by a briefing on the pre-sentencing investigation report six weeks from now and "eight weeks from now we will have sentencing."
卡希爾表示，法庭將在一周內(nèi)審閱肖萬方的書面辯詞，并公布事實性裁決。之后，法庭將要求出具裁決前調查報告，報告將在四周內(nèi)返回。六周后進行裁決前調查報告簡述會，八周后宣布量刑結果。

The maximum sentence for second-degree unintentional murder is imprisonment of not more than 40 years. The maximum sentence for third-degree murder is imprisonment of not more than 25 years. The maximum sentence for second-degree manslaughter is 10 years and/or $20,000.
二級非故意謀殺最高刑期為40年以內(nèi)，三級謀殺是25年以內(nèi)，二級過失殺人的最高刑期為10年以及（或）2萬美元罰款。

Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines, Chauvin faces 12-1/2 years in prison for his murder conviction as a first-time criminal offender.
根據(jù)明尼蘇達州的量刑原則，肖萬作為謀殺刑事案初犯，或將面臨12年半的刑期。

Prosecutors could seek a longer sentence of up to 40 years if Judge Peter Cahill determines that there were "aggravating factors."
如果法官彼得·卡希爾認為該案有嚴重情節(jié)，檢察官或可要求最高40年的刑期。

【相關詞匯】

reasonable doubt 合理懷疑

search warrant 搜查令

suspended sentence 緩刑

warrant of arrest 逮捕令

original judgment 原判

ratify/affirm the original judgment 維持原判

cross-examination 交叉訊問

參考來源：衛(wèi)報、路透社、CNN

（中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Helen）