In the wake of the Derek Chauvin verdict, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison reflected on the landmark trial as a guest on CBS‘s 60 Minutes.

Read More: For 3 ex-cops, will blaming Chauvin for Floyd’s death work

While on the news broadcast Ellison revealed he did not believe the jury would return a guilty verdict until the moment it happened. In conversation with Scott Pelley on Sunday, he shared his feelings of “gratitude” when he was made aware of the decision. As a surprise to the host, Ellison also showed compassion for the convicted murderer in his response when asked of his first thoughts.

“Gratitude– humility– followed by a certain sense of, I’ll say satisfaction. It’s what we were aiming for the whole time. I spent 16 years as a criminal defense lawyer. So, I will admit, I felt a little bad for the defendant. I think he deserved to be convicted. But he’s a human being,” Ellison said.

He continued, ” I’m not in any way wavering from my responsibility. But I hope we never forget that people who are defendants in our criminal justice system, that they’re human beings. They’re people. I mean, George Floyd was a human being. And so I’m not going to ever forget that everybody in this process is a person.”

The AG also shared how he did not think Chauvin would be convicted. Citing the notorious Rodney King case, Ellison believed the jury would find the former police officer not guilty.

“I was never convinced we were going to win this case until we heard the verdict of guilty. I remember what happened in the Rodney King case when I was a pretty young man, young lawyer,” Ellison stated. “And I remember how devastated I felt when I heard that the jury acquitted those officers. Whenever — an officer is charged with an offense, particularly when the victim is a person of color, it’s just rare that there’s any accountability. And so, there was every moment of this case, I thought, “What are we missing? What haven’t we done?”

Read More: Maryland reviews ex-official’s work after Chauvin testimony

Ellison also revealed why Chauvin was not charged with a hate crime.

“I wouldn’t call it that because hate crimes are crimes where there’s an explicit motive and of bias. We don’t have any evidence that Derek Chauvin factored in George Floyd’s race as he did what he did,” he said.

He continued, “[We] could have. But we only charge those crimes that we had evidence that we could put in front of a jury to prove. If we’d had a witness that told us that Derek Chauvin made a racial reference, we might have charged him with a hate crime. But I would have needed a witness to say that on the stand. We didn’t have it. So we didn’t do it.”

The guilty verdict was favorable for many, such as former President Barack Obama, who said the verdict was a “necessary step on the road to progress,” in a joint statement with wife Michelle Obama.

“We cannot rest,” said the Obamas. “We will need to follow through with the concrete reforms that will reduce and ultimately eliminate racial bias in our criminal justice system. We will need to redouble efforts to expand economic opportunity for those communities that have been too long marginalized.”

According to theGrio, current President Joe Biden called the family of George Floyd after the verdict was announced. Attorney Ben Crump shared video footage to Twitter of the conversation.

The president said he was “feeling better now,” after a family member asked how he was doing. “Nothing is going to make it all better, but at least now there is some justice. ”He continued, “It’s really important. I’m anxious to see you guys. I really am. We’re going to get a lot more done. We’re going to do a lot. We’re going to stay at it until we get it done.”

Vice President Kamala Harris was also on the phone call, being handed the phone from President Biden.

“In George’s name and memory, we are going to make sure his legacy is intact and that history will look back at this moment and know that is an inflection moment,” said Harris. “We really do believe that with your leadership and the president that we have in the White House, that we’re going to make something good come out of this tragedy.”

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The post Minnesota AG Keith Ellison admits he ‘felt bad’ for Chauvin after guilty verdict appeared first on TheGrio.