Chauvin, who pleaded guilty to the federal charges in December, is already serving a 22 1/2-year sentence in a Minnesota prison for Floyd’s murder after a state court trial last year. The federal sentence will run concurrently.
US District Judge Paul Magnuson announced the sentence in St. Paul, Minnesota. Chauvin’s decision to plead guilty prevented a second criminal trial for him.
Chauvin, 46, who is white, admitted that he violated the right of Floyd to not face an “unreasonable capture” by kneel on black man’s neck handcuffed for more than 9 minutes, which was captured on cell phone video.
The death sparked protests in many cities in the United States and around the world against the police brutality and the racism. Floyd’s death caused outrage in the United States, a country where police abuses against black people continue.
The protests and violent acts in Minneapolis lasted for weeks and took over the main cities of the country.
At his state trial last year, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree intentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. People sentenced to prison for serious crimes in Minnesota are generally released on parole after serving two-thirds of their sentence.
Chauvin’s guilty plea to the civil rights charges came as part of a plea deal with prosecutors that saw him face 20 to 25 years in federal prison. In that agreement, he admitted for the first time that he was to blame for Floyd’s death. Federal prosecutors had asked Magnuson to sentence Chauvin to 25 years.
Chauvin was helping three fellow officers arrest Floyd in May 2020 on suspicion the man had used a counterfeit $20 bill when buying cigarettes.
Those three, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane, were found guilty in federal court in February of violating Floyd’s rights. They have not yet been given a sentencing date.
A medical examiner determined that the police restraint prevented Floyd from breathing.
Source: Ambito
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