Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and five months in prison today for the murder of George Floyd, Financial Times reports.
The sentence handed down by Judge Peter Cahill was 10 years longer than state guidelines had suggested, despite the defence’s plea for leniency.
“This is not based on emotion or sympathy,” Cahill said during a hearing at the Hennepin county government centre in Minneapolis. “But at the same time I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain of all the families, especially the Floyd family.”
The sentence, he told Chauvin, “is based on your abuse of position and cruelty to George Floyd”.
Chauvin, 45, was found guilty in April after a six-week trial. The former Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest as Floyd cried out numerous times that he could not breathe.
Chauvin said before sentencing that he could not give a full statement because of ongoing legal matters — he is likely to appeal — but offered condolences to the Floyd family.
During the sentencing hearing, Terrence Floyd, George’s Floyd brother, wept as he told the court how his brother’s murder affected him.
“I wanted to know from the man himself — why? What was going through your head when you had your knee on my brother’s neck?” he said. “Why did you stay there?”
“On behalf of me and my family, we seek the maximum penalty,” he added. “We don’t want no more slaps on the wrist.”
Speaking via video, Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna said that if she could speak to her father now she would tell him “I miss you and I love you.”
Floyd’s death sparked protests for racial justice across the US and the world, after the incident was filmed and posted it online. Darnella Frazier, who was 17 years old when she filmed the murder, was later honoured with a special citation by the Pulitzer Prize board.
The murder drew attention to the disproportionate number of killings of black Americans at the hands of police and sparked a broader dialogue about racial inequality throughout American society.
Police officers are rarely charged, let alone convicted of murder for killings committed while on duty. But a jury convicted Chauvin of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was only sentenced on the most serious charge.
Second-degree murder can carry a prison sentence of up to 40 years but was considered unlikely in this case, where state guidelines recommended 12-and-a-half years.
Prosecutors had asked the judge for a 30-year sentence. Cahill already had agreed that four aggravating factors are present that could warrant a longer sentence, ruling that Chauvin abused his position of authority, acted with particular cruelty and in concert with three others, and that children — who were among the crowd at the scene — witnessed the crime.
Three other officers were present when Chauvin murdered Floyd. The former officers — Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — are set to be tried in March on charges of aiding and abetting murder.
The defence had asked Cahill to sentence Chauvin to probation, given that he has no previous criminal history, respected the judicial process “in the face of unparalleled public scorn and scrutiny”, and because “in spite of his mistakes, Mr Chauvin has demonstrated that he has a capacity for good, and that he has the discipline to consistently work toward worthwhile goals”.
Carolyn Pawlenty, Chauvin’s mother, told her son that she continued to believe in his innocence and asked the court for leniency.
“The public will never know the loving and caring man he is, but his family does,” she said. “Derek has played over and over in his head the events of that day. I’ve seen the toll it has taken on him. I believe a lengthy sentence will not serve Derek well.”
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