A Minnesota judge sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin to 22-1/2 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020 on a Minneapolis sidewalk, video of which sparked global protests.
A jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty on April 20 of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Prosecutors asked several members of Floyd’s family to address Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill as the hearing got underway. Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna began, appearing in a video recording played for the judge.
“I ask about him all the time,” she said in the video as Chauvin sat before the judge dressed in a gray suit and tie, a blue medical mask covering his nose and mouth. “My daddy always used to help me brush my teeth.” Asked what she would say to him if she could see him again, she said: “It would be I miss you and I love you.”
Floyd’s brother asks judge for maximum sentence for ex-police officer Chauvin
Some of George Floyd’s relatives tearfully asked the judge to send former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to prison for decades during a sentencing hearing on Friday.
Chauvin breaks his silence at sentencing in George Floyd case and apologises to family
Chauvin has broken his silence at his sentencing for the murder of George Floyd, offering condolences to Floyd’s family and saying he hopes more will come out in the future to give them “some peace of mind.”
What the prosecutors asked
Prosecutors have asked for a 30-year prison sentence, double the upper limit indicated in sentencing guidelines for a first-time offender. Cahill ruled earlier this month that prosecutors have established grounds for giving Chauvin a harsher sentence. The defense has asked for probation and has sought a retrial ahead of an expected appeal. Chauvin’s lawyer has argued that he was deprived of a fair trial because of prosecutorial and jury misconduct and errors of law at trial.
The Case
Cahill denied Chauvin’s request for a new trial in an order on Friday morning. Video of Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes sparked outrage around the world and the largest protest movement seen in the United States in decades.
The Sentence
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general’s office wrote that Chauvin’s crime “shocked the conscience of the Nation.” In a six-page ruling last month, Cahill found that prosecutors had shown there were four aggravating factors that would allow him to hand down a longer prison term than sentencing guidelines would dictate.
The judge agreed that Chauvin abused his position of trust and authority; that he treated Floyd with particular cruelty; that he committed the crime as part of a group with three other officers; and that he committed the murder in front of children. Through his attorney Eric Nelson, Chauvin has asked the judge to sentence him to probation, writing that the murder of Floyd was “best described as an error made in good faith.”
Chauvin was helping arrest Floyd on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill. Chauvin, who chose not to testify at his trial, has a right to address the judge before he is sentenced.
Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County’s former chief public defender, said in an interview that the judge may take note that Chauvin did not express remorse in the sentencing memorandum submitted this month by his lawyer. “I think what Cahill would have been looking for from Chauvin or through his defense counsel is some responsibility for his actions or some empathy for George Floyd,” she said.
Chauvin has been held at the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights since his conviction. In Minnesota, convicted people with good behavior spend two-thirds of their sentence in prison and the final third on supervised release.
In 2019, the former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was sentenced by a different judge to 12-1/2 years in prison after he was found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting an Australian American woman, Justine Damond. The three other police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were, like Chauvin, fired the day after. The three are due to face trial next year on charges of aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder.
What he could get
Legally, Chauvin could face up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder and up to 10 years for manslaughter. The second-degree murder charge said Chauvin assaulted Floyd with his knee, which unintentionally caused Floyd’s death. The third-degree murder charge said Chauvin acted with a “depraved mind,” and the manslaughter charge said his “culpable negligence” caused Floyd’s death.
Reuters / CNN
