The federal judge presiding over the cases of the four Minneapolis police officers implicated in the killing of George Floyd has accepted Derek Chauvin’s plea deal and will sentence him to 20 to 25 years in prison.
That sentencing range was laid out in a plea filed months ago, which also mentioned Chauvin would be expected to serve between 17 and a little over 21 years, “assuming all good-time credit.”
Chauvin was sentenced last June after the former Minneapolis police officer was convicted of murder in the 2020 death of Floyd. Chauvin has asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction.
At the federal level, Chauvin pleaded guilty in December 2021 to violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Based on the plea filed, this sentence would be served concurrently with the 22.5-year sentence tied to his murder conviction at the state level.
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down in a street.
Two other police officers, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, assisted Chauvin in restraining Floyd. Lane had also pointed a gun at Floyd’s head prior to Floyd being put in handcuffs. A fourth police officer, Tou Thao, prevented bystanders from intervening.
The killing of Floyd raised a lot of agitation around the world and gave rise to the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. A vigil was observed in Ghana in honour of George under the Year Of Return Initiative by the Government of Ghana.
