Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. The judge noted Chauvin will receive credit for 199 days that he’s already served in custody. Shortly before sentencing, Judge Peter Cahill denied the defense’s request for a new trial or a hearing over jury misconduct.
In April, Chauvin was convicted of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter. State sentencing guidelines for someone with no criminal history recommend a range of 10 years and eight months to 15 years in prison. But prosecutors called on the judge for a harsher sentence of 30 years, saying Chauvin ‘brutally murdered Mr. Floyd, abusing the authority conferred by his badge.’
Chauvin and his defense asked the judge for probation or a sentence shorter than Minnesota guidelines suggest. The request cites Chauvin’s work as a police officer and lack of criminal history. Prior to Floyd’s death, Chauvin was the subject of at least 22 complaints and internal investigations over his 19-year career as a police officer.
Chauvin killed Floyd in May 2020, kneeling on his neck for more than 9 minutes despite the man’s cries of ‘I can’t breathe.’ The incident sparked nationwide protests and conversations around race. Ahead of sentencing, Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said, ‘There was nothing typical about what Derek Chauvin did in torturing George Floyd to death. So we don’t expect it to be a typical sentence. It needs to be a sentence that sets a new precedent for holding police officers accountable for the unjustifiable killings of Black people in America.’
