Chauvin’s sentence was for depriving George Floyd of his civil rights.
QUICK FACTS:
- Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights and sentenced to 21 years in federal prison.
- Chauvin pleaded guilty to the federal charges after already being convicted of murder in Floyd’s May 2020 death.
- U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Chauvin to serve 252 months, minus the seven months already served.
- The federal senate will run concurrently with his 22.5-year sentence which began last year and was handed down after he was found guilty of Floyd’s death.
- Chauvin was videotaped while kneeling on Floyd’s neck during an arrest that ended in Floyd’s death.
THE JUDGE’S STATEMENT TO CHAUVIN:
- Justice Magnuson said, “I really don’t know why you did what you did, but to put your knee on another person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong, and for that conduct, you must be substantially punished.”
- “You absolutely destroyed the lives of three other young officers” who were also involved, Magnuson said.
- The judge was making reference to the former police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao, who were all fired from their positions and are now being prosecuted on both state and federal charges for their complicity in Floyd’s killing.
BACKGROUND:
- Chauvin was sentenced in June of 2021 in Floyd’s death with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter of Floyd.
- Floyd’s death, which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota took place after Chauvin knelt on the 46-year-old black man for several minutes.
- The death caused nationwide outrage, rioting, and the deaths of many more due to the chaos and violence that ensued.
