Ex-cop gets 221/2 years for murder of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS • The killing of Mr George Floyd on a Minneapolis corner led to protests across the US, a reckoning over racial injustice touching on virtually every aspect of American life and a substantial prison sentence - 221/2 years - for former police officer Derek Chauvin, who ignored Mr Floyd's desperate cries for help and pressed his knee into Mr Floyd's neck for what seemed an eternity.

The sentence was less than the 30 years prosecutors had sought, but far more than the penalty that lawyers for Chauvin, 45, had requested: probation and the time he has already spent behind bars. The sentence means the earliest Chauvin could be eligible for release on parole, experts said, would be in 2035 or 2036, when he is close to 60 years old.

In delivering Chauvin's sentence on Friday, Judge Peter Cahill referred to the "particular cruelty" of the crime, which was captured in a widely shared cellphone video, as Chauvin held Mr Floyd down for more than 9 minutes in May 2020. Mr Floyd could be heard crying out more than 20 times that he could not breathe.

Shortly after reading the sentence, Mr Cahill issued a 22-page memorandum about his decision, writing: "Part of the mission of the Minneapolis Police Department is to give citizens 'voice and respect'." But Chauvin had instead "treated Mr Floyd without respect and denied him the dignity owed to all human beings and which he certainly would have extended to a friend or neighbour".

Mr Floyd's relatives expressed relief that Chauvin was facing prison, even as they said they believed he deserved a longer term. In the hearing, they described their anguish and loss in tearful terms.

"Why?" said Mr Terrence Floyd, Mr Floyd's brother. "What were you thinking? What was going through your head when you had your knee on my brother's neck?" Mr Floyd's seven-year-old daughter Gianna spoke in a pre-recorded video, answering questions about her father. Asked what she would say to him if she could, she said: "It would be I miss you and I love you."

Chauvin, dressed in a grey suit and blue face mask and with a freshly shaven head, sat quietly through much of the proceedings. Offered an opportunity to address the courtroom, he spoke briefly, saying "additional legal matters at hand" prevented him from saying more. "But, very briefly though," he said, "I do want to give my condolences to the Floyd family."

Chauvin's mother, Ms Carolyn Pawlenty, spoke longer, urging the judge to be lenient and speaking publicly about the case for the first time. She said the news media and prosecutors had painted a distorted picture of her son.

The killing of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by Chauvin, a white officer, led to calls around the country to defund police budgets, remove statues of historical figures tied to racism and diversify predominantly white corporate boards.

The sentence offered some closure to a traumatised nation. Still, activists said there was much more to be done, especially with national police reform legislation named for Mr Floyd languishing in Washington.

Chauvin has been behind bars since his trial ended in April. The judge said Chauvin would be credited with 199 days already served, including a period he spent in jail before his trial. Officials said he was being kept in solitary confinement for his own safety.

The maximum sentence allowed under Minnesota law for second-degree murder, the most serious charge Chauvin was convicted of, is 40 years. The jury, which deliberated for about 10 hours following a six-week trial, also convicted Chauvin of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

But under Minnesota's sentencing guidelines, a presumptive term for someone like Chauvin with no criminal history is 121/2 years.

Leading up to the sentencing hearing, Chauvin's lawyer, Mr Eric Nelson, had pressed the court for leniency, asserting in a memorandum that Chauvin had not known he was committing a crime when he tried to arrest Mr Floyd on a report that he had used a fake US$20 bill to buy cigarettes. Mr Nelson also argued that placing Chauvin in prison would make him a target of other inmates.

In seeking a 30-year term, prosecutors had argued that the former officer's actions had "traumatised Mr Floyd's family, the bystanders who watched Mr Floyd die, and the community. And his conduct shocked the nation's conscience".

In the end, the judge said, two "aggravating factors" had affected his decision to sentence Chauvin to more than 22 years: Chauvin had acted with particular cruelty, and had abused his authority as an officer of the law.

NYTIMES