A Minnesota judge has sentenced former police officer Derek Chauvin to 22 years and six months in prison on Friday for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020 on a Minneapolis footpath, video of which sparked global protests.
Derek Chauvin waits to hear the judge's sentence. Photo: AFP
A jury found Chauvin, 45, guilty on April 20 of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after a trial that was widely seen as a watershed moment in the history of US policing.
Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year prison sentence, double the upper limit indicated in sentencing guidelines for a first-time offender. The defence had asked for probation.
Video of Chauvin, who is white, kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes caused outrage around the world and the largest protest movement seen in the United States in decades.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general's office wrote that Chauvin's crime "shocked the conscience of the nation."
In a six-page ruling last month, Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill found that prosecutors had shown there were four aggravating factors that would allow him to hand down a longer prison term than sentencing guidelines would dictate.
The judge agreed that Chauvin abused his position of trust and authority; that he treated Floyd with particular cruelty; that he committed the crime as part of a group with three other officers; and that he committed the murder in front of children.
People react outside the court in Minneapolis when they hear the sentence. Photo: AFP
Chauvin's sentence was one of the longest given a former police officer for using unlawful deadly force in the United States, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted the case, told reporters. Successful prosecutions of police officers in such cases have been rare.
"Today's sentencing is not justice but it is another moment of real accountability on the road to justice," Ellison said outside the courtroom, calling on law enforcement leaders around the United States to see it as a moment for reform.
At the White House, US President Joe Biden, who has spoken several times with the Floyd family, said the sentence seemed appropriate.
Both Floyd's brother Rodney and his nephew Brandon Williams criticised the sentence as a "slap on the wrist."
"We were served a life sentence," Williams said outside the courthouse. "We can't get George back."
Through his attorney Eric Nelson, Chauvin had asked the judge to sentence him to probation, writing that the murder of Floyd was "best described as an error made in good faith." Cahill denied Chauvin's request for a new trial in an order on Friday morning.
Chauvin was helping arrest Floyd on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill.
The former officer has been held in solitary confinement since he was found guilty of killing Floyd.
Before the sentence was handed down, Floyd's brothers told the court of their anguish, Chauvin's mother insisted on her son's innocence, and Chauvin himself offered condolences to the Floyd family.
Before issuing his sentence, the judge gave short remarks describing how he arrived at a sentence of 270 months, or just over 22 years.
"My comments are actually going to be very brief, because most of it is going to be in writing," he says, pointing to his 22-page sentencing memo.
He said that he will let his written work stand, because this case "is a legal analysis" and "is not based on emotion or sympathy."
He said the pain has been felt around the country, but added: "Most importantly we need to recognise the pain of the Floyd family."
He acknowledged the global notoriety of the case only to say it would not sway him.
"I'm not basing my sentence on public opinion," Cahill said. "I'm not basing it on the attempt to send any messages. The job of a trial court judge is to apply the law to specific facts and to deal with individual cases."
George Floyd's family, including Philonise Floyd, centre, gather outside the courtroom after the sentencing. Photo: AFP
- Reuters / BBC