ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, telling the former Minneapolis police officer that what he did was “simply wrong” and “offensive.”
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U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sharply criticized Chauvin for his actions on May 25, 2020, when the white officer pinned Floyd to the pavement outside a Minneapolis corner store for more than 9 minutes as the Black man lay dying. Floyd’s killing sparked protests worldwide in a reckoning over police brutality and racism.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did,” Magnuson said. “To put your knee on a person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong. … Your conduct is wrong and it is offensive.”
Magnuson, who earlier this year presided over the federal trial and convictions of three other officers at the scene, blamed Chauvin alone for what happened. Chauvin was by far the senior officer present, and rebuffed questions from one of the others about whether Floyd should be turned on his side.
“You absolutely destroyed the lives of three young officers by taking command of the scene,” Magnuson said.
Even so, Magnuson’s sentence was at the low end of the 20 to 25 years called for in a plea agreement in which Chauvin will serve the federal sentence at the same time he serves his 22 1/2-year sentence on state charges of murder and manslaughter.
Because of differences in parole eligibility in the state and federal systems, it means that Chauvin will serve slightly more time behind bars than he would have on the state sentence alone. He will also do his time in the federal system, where he may be safer and may be held under fewer restrictions than in the state system.
Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson had asked for 20 years, arguing that Chauvin was remorseful and would make that clear to the court. But Chauvin, in brief remarks, made no direct apology or expression of remorse to Floyd’s family.
Instead, he told the family that he wishes Floyd’s children “all the best in their life” and that they have “excellent guidance in becoming good adults.”
In entering his federal plea last year, Chauvin for the first time admitted that he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck — even as the Black man pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and then became unresponsive — killing Floyd. Chauvin admitted he willfully deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer.
Magnuson has not set sentencing dates for the three other officers who were on the scene — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane — who were convicted in February of federal civil rights charges.
Lane is also due to be sentenced Sept. 21 after pleading guilty in state court to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Thao and Kueng turned down plea deals and are due to be tried in state court Oct. 24 on aiding and abetting charges.
“Evidence suggests that Henriquez was pregnant, or that Floyd threatened to kill her baby. Henriquez was injured during the incident”
George Floyd was a lowlife criminal thug. He contributed nothing of value to this world. Good riddance.
I hate this cop, but there was no intent.
Why is jason statham on trial?
It’s terrible. 21 years for
Doing something like that is unforgivably over the top.
fentanyl floyd was chayiv misa, chauvin just administered it.
this is just another example how the law is perverted in this country.
the violent gangstas are not prosecuted while whites get a book thrown at them, so much for white privilege. The society as we know it has been overturned and as we know from pirkei avos, a society with perverted justice cannot continue, it’s unstable. only major , i repeat, major blood letting could shock today’s society back to life.
What’s really offensive is the cowardly judges who went along with the mob to protect their own hide. Justice is blind to the truth in this case…
crooks and murderers get more lenient sentences. This guy should have been a hero. America is sick.
21 years for murder? That’s all?