Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, pled guilty to federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights on Wednesday, avoiding a trial but possibly lengthening the time he is already serving in prison for a state conviction.
Chauvin, a white guy, was convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges this spring for placing his knee over Floyd’s neck during an arrest on May 25, 2020, when the Black man said he couldn’t breathe. In this instance, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.
Chauvin was charged with two counts of depriving Floyd of his rights by kneeling on his neck while shackled and not resisting and then failing to offer medical care.
Chauvin was led into and out of the court in handcuffs and wore an orange short-sleeve prison shirt for the change of plea hearing on Wednesday. To affirm his pleas, he said, “Guilty, your honor,” and recognized that he was guilty of the crimes specified in the accusations.
Chauvin is projected to serve around 15 years of his state term behind bars if he is granted parole and maintains good behavior. Any federal sentence would run concurrently with the state sentence, and around 85 percent of federal sentences are served on the assumption of good behavior. That means Chauvin would likely serve around six years and three months more than his state term if the judge gives him the full 25-year sentence he has sought.
Judge Paul Magnuson did not set a sentencing date.
Thomas Lane, J. Kueng, and Tou Thao, three additional former cops were charged on federal charges with Chauvin earlier this year. They are still scheduled to stand trial on those allegations early next year, with a state trial to follow.
Chauvin also agreed to plead guilty to breaching the rights of a then-14-year-old boy during a 2017 arrest in which he grabbed the kid’s throat, punched him in the head with a flashlight, and put his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed, and not resisting.
According to a reporter, several members of Floyd’s family were present, as was the then-teenager involved in the 2017 arrest. “It’s a nice day for justice,” Floyd’s brother Philonise said to Chauvin’s 2017 victim as they left the courtroom.
Chauvin looked to have the support of nine persons, including family members. According to the pool report, he waved and grinned at them as he entered and exited the courtroom.
Floyd’s arrest and death, which was captured on camera by a bystander, spurred widespread protests demanding an end to racial inequity and police maltreatment of African-Americans.
Prosecutors must believe that an officer acted under the “color of law,” or government power, and knowingly violated someone’s constitutional rights to seek federal charges in killings involving cops. That’s a high legal bar to clear. An accident a lapse in judgment, or mere negligence on the part of the officer is insufficient grounds for federal prosecution. Prosecutors must show that the officer was aware that what he was doing was wrong at the time but chose to do it regardless.
According to evidence in Chauvin’s state case, Kueng and Lane assisted Floyd in restraint while he was on the ground — Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane kept Floyd’s legs down. During the 9 1/2-minute detention, Thao kept onlookers at bay and prevented them from intervening.
In federal court, all four former cops were charged with depriving Floyd of his rights while working under government power, but the charges were broken down even further in the federal indictment. The first charge against Chauvin says that he violated Floyd’s right to be free from excessive seizures and force by a police officer by keeping his knee on Floyd’s neck long after Floyd was unresponsive.
The second count claims that Chauvin deprives Floyd of his liberty without due process, including his right to be free from “deliberate indifference to his critical medical needs.”
Chauvin is accused of depriving the kid, who was handcuffed and not resisting, of his right to be free of unjustified force when he held him by the throat, beat him in the head with a flashlight, and placed his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back in a 2017 case involving the then-14-year-old boy.
Chauvin claimed in a police report from that 2017 incident that the youngster resisted arrest and that once the teen was handcuffed, Chauvin “used bodyweight to pin” him to the floor. Two stitches were required to stop the bleeding in the boy’s ear.
That incident was one of several mentioned in state court filings by prosecutors, who claimed Chauvin had used neck, head, and upper body restraints seven times since 2014, including four times when prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints “beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.” The other three former cops are scheduled to go on trial in January on federal charges and in March on state charges of aiding and abetting
