Minnesota Governor Tim Walz declared a state of emergency last night in the counties around Minneapolis as the city prepares for the verdict in the Derek Chauvin murder trial.

Walz held a news conference to lay out his plans to maintain security. He said the state is bringing in police backup from Nebraska and Ohio. The report pointed out that the Minnesota Senate approved $9 million in emergency funding to deal with potential unrest.

“We can’t live like this,” he said. “We simply can’t. But we can’t have thousands of businesses burned and people put at risk.”

The murder case against Chauvin in the death of George Floyd went to the jury yesterday. The jury began deliberating after nearly a full day of closing arguments.

The jurors deliberated about four hours before retiring for the night to the hotel where they are being sequestered for this final phase of the trial. They were due to resume this morning.

Meanwhile, Representative Maxine Waters of California appeared to shake off comments by the judge in the Derek Chauvin murder trial who said her “confrontational” remarks during a weekend protest in Minnesota could result in “this whole trial being overturned.”

Judge Peter Cahill was asked by Eric Nelson, the defense attorney, to declare a mistrial because of prosecutorial misconduct and Waters’ comments at a Brooklyn Center protest on Saturday night.

She was asked about the Chauvin case and told reporters if the former police officer is not found guilty of murder, “We’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

Nelson told the court that there is a “high probability” that jurors will see Waters’ comments. Cahill denied the request.

“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” Cahill said.

Cahill called it “disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch” for elected officials to comment on the outcome of the case.

“Their failure to do so, I think, is abhorrent, he said. “But I don’t think it has prejudiced us with additional material that would prejudice this jury. They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions.”

Waters was asked about the judge’s comment yesterday and said, “The judge says my words don’t matter.”