The criminal sentencing of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd began Friday afternoon with emotional victim impact statements from the victim’s relatives, and Chauvin himself offering “my condolences to the Floyd family.”
Hours before, a judge denied a request for a new trial for Chauvin, whose brutal killing of Floyd, a Black man, whose videotaped death on May 25, 2020, sparked demands for reform of U.S. police departments.
“I ask about him all the time,” Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna said in a video shown at the beginning of the sentencing.
Asked what she would tell her father if she could see him, Gianna said on the video, “I miss you and I love you.”
George Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna testifies via a cell phone video before the sentencing of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of her father George Floyd during a sentencing hearing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. June 25, 2021 in a still image from video.
Pool via Reuters
Chauvin held his knee on or near Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, as the 46-year-old was prone on the ground while detaining him on suspicion of using a counterfeit bill for a purchase, as three other Minneapolis cops stood by.
“He’s telling Mr. Chauvin, ‘I can’t breathe, I’m dying,’ ” Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank said at the sentencing. “This is 9-and-a-half minutes of cruelty to a man who was begging for his life.”
Floyd’s brother Terrence Floyd addressed Chauvin, after asking the judge to impose a maximum sentence of 40 years, saying he wanted to ask him “why?”
“What were you thinking? What was in your thoughts that day, when you had your knee on my brother’s neck?” asked Terrence Floyd, who at times paused to regain his composure.
“When you knew that he posted no threat anymore. When he was handcuffed? Why didn’t you at least get up? Why did you stay there?”
Chauvin, in a very brief statement during the sentencing, said, “I am not able to give a full statement at this time, but very briefly, I want to give my condolences to the Floyd family.”
“There is going to be some other information in the future that will be of interest and I hope things will give you some peace of mind,” Chauvin said.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin addresses his sentencing hearing and the judge as he awaits his sentence after being convicted of murder in the death of Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. June 25, 2021 in a still image from video.
Pool via Reuters
Prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence Chauvin to 30 years in prison.
That is a decade less than the maximum possible sentence he faces on the charge of second-degree murder, the most serious of the three counts on which he was convicted by a jury on April 20 after trial.
Jurors also convicted Chauvin of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Chauvin’s lawyer is asking the judge to sentence the 45-year-old white ex-police officer to probation, with time served in jail since last year.
The presumptive sentence for Chauvin under Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines is 12½ years.
Chauvin’s mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, said “It’s been difficult for me to hear and read what the media, public and prosecution team believe Derek to be an aggressive, heartless and uncaring person. I can tell you that is far from the truth.”
“My son’s identity has also been reduced to that as a racist. I want this court to know that none of these things are true, and that my son is a good man,” Pawlenty said.
The shocking video of Floyd’s death, which was widely disseminated by news media and on social media, led to a wave of large protests across the nation against police brutality and systemic racism.
The three other now-ex cops involved in Floyd’s arrest, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane, were originally due to stand trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death. That trial is now scheduled for next March.
In this image taken from video, Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, becomes emotional during victim impact statements as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides over sentencing, Friday, June 25, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd.
Court TV via AP | Pool
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill postponed that trial in light of a federal criminal indictment issued in May against the three officers and Chauvin for violating Floyd’s civil rights. The judge said he wanted the federal case to be handled first and also wanted to put some time between Chauvin’s state trial and that of the three other cops.
On Friday, in his order denying a request for a new trial for Chauvin, Cahill wrote that Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson had failed to show that the judge committed errors that deprived Chauvin of a fair trial or that prosecutors engaged in misconduct.
Cahill also rejected a request by the defense for a hearing on possible misconduct by jurors, saying Chauvin’s lawyer failed to establish that a juror gave false testimony during jury selection.
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