Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison by a US court in connection with the shocking death of black man George Floyd in May 2020.
AFP said the latest trial for Derek Chauvin, 45, took place on June 25, more than a year after Floyd’s death. In court, Chauvin offered his “consolations” to Floyd’s family but did not offer any apology before Judge Peter Cahill delivered the sentence.
Mr. Cahill’s sentence is lower than the 30-year prison sentence proposed by the prosecutor. Floyd’s family attorney, Ben Crump, called the verdict a “historic” step towards racial reconciliation in the US. President Joe Biden commented that the sentence “seems appropriate”.
Mr Cahill said he was not “sentenced from public opinion” or to “send any message”. The American judge said the sentence was delivered in accordance with what he described as “brutal and abuse of office” by Chauvin.
Previously, in the trial on April 20, Chauvin was found guilty by the court of: second-degree murder (intentional killing but not planning in advance), third-degree murder (causing death through acts of murder). extremely dangerous to them in a highly agitated mental state) and manslaughter.
Chauvin has 90 days to appeal. Then, the Minnesota appeals court had a year to decide.
On May 25, 2020, Chauvin and three other former policemen, including Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, arrested Floyd, 46, on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill.
Former police officers handcuffed Floyd and pinned Floyd to the ground. The image released by the US media shows that Chauvin used a pillow to hold Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes continuously, even though Floyd was handcuffed and kept saying “I can’t breathe”.
Floyd’s death has sparked outrage across the United States with large-scale anti-racism protests erupting in many places, some of which have escalated to violence, causing many people to die. casualties.
During the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on March 29, prosecutors corrected information that the officer then knelt on the neck of black man George Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, not 8 minutes 46 seconds.
Prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell repeatedly highlighted the new 9 minutes and 29 seconds as “the three most important numbers in this case”.
He divided the time Derek Chauvin put his knee on George Folyd’s neck into three parts: 4 minutes 45 seconds when Floyd called for help, 53 seconds when Floyd fainted and 3 minutes 51 seconds when Floyd did not respond.
Defense attorney for former police officer Derek Chauvin also approved a new timeline of the context of the black man’s death to support his arguments, according to CNN.
“The evidence is much bigger than 9 minutes and 29 seconds,” said attorney Eric Nelson, who also noted that there are many interviews and documents that will prove that Derek Chauvin did not. guilty.
According to CNN, the 43-second difference between 8 minutes 46 seconds and 9 minutes 29 seconds has little effect on the case, but the number of 8 minutes 46 has exerted its power since the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
The protesters remained silent for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, kneeling and pretending to be dead. Comedian Dave Chappelle gave a special performance on police violence and anti-racism against people of color titled “8:46”. This figure even has its own Wikipedia page.
Just minutes before the trial on March 29, relatives and supporters of George Floyd also knelt at 8 minutes 46 to remember the death of the black man.
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