ST. PAUL, Minn. – A white Minneapolis police officer whose murder of a black man outside a convenience store sparked protests around the world was sentenced Thursday to 21 years in federal prison in a case which indicated a new provision to demand criminal liability from police officers. for misconduct.
Former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of excessive use of force under the law against both George Floyd, who died in the encounter, and a 14-year-old boy, also Black, who was injured in an unrelated, though similar, incident.
With the time already completed deduced, the conviction of Mr. Chauvin ascends to just over 20 years, near the lower end of the 20 to 25 year range prescribed by sentencing guidelines. Federal and state convictions must be served simultaneously.
The ruling marks the likely end of Mr. Chauvin’s legal saga. He was convicted of murdering Mr Floyd in a dramatic trial in state court last year and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison, a sentence he has appealed. Thursday’s ruling came in a separate federal civil rights case in which Mr. Chauvin pleaded guilty, severely limiting his right to challenge the sentence.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did, but putting your knee on someone else’s neck until it expires is just a mistake, and for that behavior you have to be substantially punished,” Judge Paul Magnuson of the U.S. District Court in St. Paul said as he handed down the sentence. “You absolutely destroyed the lives of three other young agents” who were also involved, the judge added.
The meeting of Mr. Chauvin with Mr. Floyd in May 2020 became a clear example of police brutality and aroused demands for racial equity in hundreds of cities. During an attempt to arrest Mr. Floyd for passing a fake $ 20 bill at a convenience store, Mr. Chauvin grabbed Mr. Floyd was on the street for more than nine minutes, using one knee to press his neck while Mr. Floyd protested, “I can’t breathe.” The Minneapolis police department initially claimed he had died in a “medical incident.”
In the federal declaration agreement, Mr. Chauvin acknowledged the excessive use of force against Mr. Floyd and, in a similar incident in 2017, a teenager named John Pope, whose mother reportedly assaulted him. . Although Mr. Pope “made no aggressive move” toward the agents who responded, according to the agreement, Mr. Chauvin repeatedly hit him with a flashlight and held him with one knee for more than 15 minutes.
“I was treated like I wasn’t a human being at the hands of Derek Chauvin,” Mr. Pope at the sentencing hearing in the St. Paul. “He made a choice and didn’t care about the outcome. By the grace of God I lived to see another day.”
Mr Chauvin, who has made only a few public comments since his arrest, also went to court, although he offered no apology for his actions. “Your Honor, I recognize the difficult and unpleasant work of this case, having to follow legal rules in a busy political environment has to be very difficult,” he said.
He wished Mr. Pope “a good relationship with his mother” and the opportunity to get “the best possible education to lead a productive and full life.” To the children of Mr. Floyd told them, “I wish them all the best in their lives and that they have an excellent guide to becoming great adults.”
Carolyn Pawlenty, Mr. Chauvin’s mother, spoke on behalf of her son, in the same way she did in her conviction at state trial. He cited his 20 years of service to the Minneapolis Police Department and said many of its members “had not supported theirs,” an apparent reference to the condemnation of his son’s actions and the testimony against him by the his companions.
The guilty plea suggested that the federal conviction of Mr. Chauvin was about the same length as the state sentence, 20 to 25 years, which gave him the opportunity to spend his time in a federal prison where he would be less likely to meet people he had helped convict. when he was an officer.
Three more officers were involved in the fatal arrest of Mr. Floyd, including two novices, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, and a more experienced officer, Tou Thao, who, along with Mr. Chauvin, arrived at the scene to support. The video of the spectator of the encounter went viral and the four agents were quickly fired.
They understand the judgments stemming from the death of George Floyd
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Four defendants. Together with Mr. Chauvin, three other agents were accused of having a role in the death of Mr. Floyd. Tou Thao, a veteran officer who was Mr. Chauvin’s partner, detained a group of spectators. J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane helped identify Mr. Floyd. The four men have been involved in various proceedings.
Mr. Chauvin’s criminal trial. In April 2021, a state court jury found Mr. Chauvin, who is white, guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. In June 2021 he was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison; has appealed his conviction.
A second criminal trial. Mr. Kueng, Mr. Lane and Mr. Thao had been tried on June 13 on charges of unintentional second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Mr. Thao’s death. Floyd. On May 18, Mr. Lane pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in state court. The trial of the two remaining officers was later postponed.
They also faced federal civil rights charges in addition to state murder charges, a move Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at the University of St. Louis, said. Thomas in the Twin Cities said it was more than a practical safeguard against acquittals or success. appeals to the state court.
“It was the federal government making a statement that this case was important nationally,” he said. “And it was also a condemnation for something beyond what we saw in the state: it was the deprivation of civil rights, not just the murder of George Floyd.”
While Mr. Chauvin first faced state charges, his three colleagues were convicted of federal civil rights charges in February, before the state trial. Federal prosecutors have asked for a sentence of about five to six years for Mr. Lane, the only officer to question Mr. Floyd, and a “substantially higher” sentence, though not as high as that of Mr. Chauvin, for the other two officers.
Mr. Lane pleaded guilty to a state charge of second-degree manslaughter and is expected to be convicted in September; prosecutors have asked for three years. It is expected that Mr. Kueng and Mr. Thao will be tried on state charges of murder and manslaughter in October.
Mr. Chauvin has been detained in Minnesota state prison since his murder conviction, largely limited to administrative segregation. “I express your empathy, Mr. Chauvin, for the conditions to which he has been limited since his arrest,” Judge Magnuson said.