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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd, and his death became a pivotal moment in the national debate over race and police.
The 270-month sentence handed down by Judge Peter Cahill was 10 years longer than the state guidelines suggested, despite the defense claiming agility.
“This is not based on emotion or sympathy,” Cahill said at a hearing at the Hennepin County government center 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, was based on abuse of authority and “particular cruelty” to George Floyd.
Chauvin, 45, was found guilty in April a six-week trial. The former Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes in custody, while Floyd shouted several times that he could not breathe.
Chauvin said before the sentencing that he could not give his full statement due to ongoing legal litigation, he is likely to appeal, but offered condolences to the Floyd family.
At the sentencing hearing, Terrence Floyd cried when he told the court how his brother’s murder had affected him.
“I wanted to know for the man himself – why? What went through your mind that you had your knee on my brother’s neck? he said. “Why were you there?”
“On behalf of me and my family, we demand the greatest punishment,” he added. “We don’t want to slap him on the wrist anymore.”
Speaking via video, George Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna said that if she could talk to her father she would now tell him, “I miss you and I love you.”
Floyd’s death sparked protests for racial justice in the U.S. and around the world after the incident was filmed and posted online. Darnella Frazier, who was 17 when she shot the murder, later received a special mention Pulitzer Prize table.
The assassination drew attention to the disproportionate number of murders of black Americans in police custody and sparked a broader dialogue about racial inequality throughout American society.
They are the police rarely charged, even less so, accused of murder for being on guard duty. But the jury condemned Chauvin second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree murder. Only the most serious accusation was punished.
The prosecutor asked the judge for a 30-year sentence, while the defense asked for probation.
Carolyn Pawlenty, Chauvin’s mother, told her son that she still believed in his innocence and asked the court for agility.
“The public will never know a man who is loving and responsible to him, but his family will,” he said. “Derek has repeatedly played on the minds of the events of that day.”
Cahill wrote in a decision explaining his reasoning that part of the Minneapolis Police Department’s mission is to give the citizens’ “voice and respect.” it was their dignity and it would certainly extend to a friend or neighbor. “
When Floyd died there were three other officers. Former officers – Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao – will be tried in March on charges of aiding the murder.
There were more activists and observers outside the courthouse after the sentencing after the sentencing. But a man, Leon Lawson, drove from Michigan to be there with his 4-year-old son. Lawson said his uncle spent more than 50 years in the youth murder. For two decades Chauvin, he said, was not enough.
“I wanted my son to see our justice system in advance and in person,” he said. “To say he was here when the boy was punished, and to be able to compare the difference in skin color. . . I think this is a step in the right direction, so we will take what we can get. “
Attorney Benjamin Crump represented the Floyd family civil hearing Against the city of Minneapolis, he said Friday that “a sentence does not solve the problem of criminal justice.”
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