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Thread: Derek Chauvin Sentenced to 22 Years and 6 Months in 2020 MN Death of George Floyd

  1. #61
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Floyd had a record of saying I can't t breathe in his earlier arrests where he wasn't even restrained.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  2. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by one_two_bomb View Post
    Probably because there was a video of him kneeling on Floyd for 9 minutes while he repeatedly said he couldn't breathe, but that's just my guess.
    He couldn't breathe because he was over-dosing on Fentanyl.

    I am delighted that Derek is appealing his unfair conviction, he has an experienced appellate lawyer to represent him, a fund is in the process of being set up to pay the fees of the lawyer seeing as how the state denied him legal assistance, he has many supporters who will donate to it.

  3. #63
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    Chauvin pleads guilty to federal charge in Floyd’s death

    By Amy Forliti
    The Associated Press

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of violating George Floyd’s civil rights, averting a trial but likely extending the time he is already spending behind bars on a state conviction.

    Chauvin, who is white, was convicted this spring of state murder and manslaughter charges for pinning his knee against Floyd’s neck during a May 25, 2020, arrest as the Black man said he couldn’t breathe Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in that case.

    The federal charge alleged that Chauvin deprived Floyd of his rights by kneeling on his neck as he was handcuffed and not resisting.

    Chauvin appeared in person Wednesday for the change of plea hearing in an orange short-sleeve prison shirt and was led into and out of the court in handcuffs. He said “Guilty, your honor” to confirm his pleas in Floyd’s death and an unrelated 2017 case, and acknowledged that he was guilty of the acts alleged.

    With parole and presuming good behavior, Chauvin is expected to actually serve about 15 years of his state sentence behind bars. Any federal sentence would run at the same time as the state sentence, and defendants serve about 85 percent of federal sentences presuming good behavior. That means if the judge gives Chauvin the maximum 25 years requested, he would likely serve about six years and three months beyond his state sentence.

    Judge Paul Magnuson didn’t set a date for sentencing.

    Three other former officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — were indicted on federal charges alongside Chauvin earlier this year. They are still on course for trial early next year on those charges, with a state trial still to come.

    Floyd’s arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked mass protests nationwide calling for an end to racial inequality and police mistreatment of Black people.

    As part of the plea deal, Chauvin also pleaded guilty to violating the rights of a then-14-year-old boy during a 2017 arrest in which he held the boy by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

    Several members of Floyd’s family were present, as was the then-teenager involved in the 2017 arrest, according to a pool reporter. As they left the courtroom, Floyd’s brother Philonise said to Chauvin’s 2017 victim: “It’s a good day for justice.”

    Nine people appeared to support Chauvin, including family members. He waved and smiled at them as he entered and left the courtroom, according to the pool report.

    George Floyd’s nephew, Brandon Williams, afterward called Chauvin a “monster” who should have been arrested in the 2017 incident.

    “Had he been held accountable for what he did in 2917 to that minor, George Floyd will still be here,” Williams said. “Today he had a chance to blow kisses and give air hugs to his family. We can’t do that.”

    An attorney for Floyd’s family, Jeff Storms, said they planned to head to Minneapolis later in the day to support the family of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in the midst of Chauvin’s state trial. The police officer in that case, Kim Potter, is on trial on manslaughter charges.

    Floyd’s arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked mass protests nationwide that called for an end to racial inequality and police mistreatment of Black people.

    To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe an officer acted under the “color of law,” or government authority, and willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights. That’s a high legal standard. An accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officer’s part isn’t enough to support federal charges. Prosecutors have to prove the officer knew what he was doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.

    According to evidence in the state case against Chauvin, Kueng and Lane helped restrain the 46-year-old Floyd as he was on the ground — Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held down Floyd’s legs. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

    All four former officers were charged broadly in federal court with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority.

    In the 2017 case involving the then-14-year-old boy, Chauvin is charged with depriving the boy, who was handcuffed and not resisting, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held him by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was in a prone position.

    According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and after the teen, whom he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin “used body weight to pin” him to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

    That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times before dating back to 2014, including four times state 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 officers are still expected to go to trial on federal charges in January, and they face state trial on aiding and abetting counts in March.

    https://apnews.com/article/death-of-...0c659e3428134e

  4. #64
    I am pretty sure that Derek does not believe he is guilty, he has had to change his plea (his lawyer must have advised him re this) as given that he did not receive a fair state trial - what were the chances of him receiving a fair federal trial.....? Getting defence witnesses to testify was probably proving difficult due to fear & intimidation. I believe that in the future with a different White House occupant he can get a presidential pardon or clemency or his sentence commuted (federal), with state he is appealing & people are donating to a fund for his legal expenses & if the process is fair then he should win that appeal; meanwhile moving to a federal prison will be good for him, also I'm sure that his many supporters will continue to write to him regularly.

  5. #65
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    3 ex-cops convicted of rights violations in Floyd killing

    By Amy Forliti, Steve Karnowski and Tammy Webber
    The Associated Press

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — Three former Minneapolis police officers were convicted Thursday of violating George Floyd’s civil rights, as a federal jury rejected their arguments that inexperience, improper training or the distraction of shouting bystanders excused them from failing to prevent Floyd’s killing.

    Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were convicted of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as the 46-year-old Black man was pinned under fellow Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee for 9 1/2 minutes while handcuffed, facedown on the street on May 25, 2020. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back.

    Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin in the videotaped killing that sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the globe as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.

    Lane shook his head and looked at his attorney as his verdict was read, according to a pool report. Thao and Kueng showed no visible emotion.

    The jury that appeared to be all-white reached the verdicts after two days of deliberations. Lane is white, Kueng is Black and Thao is Hmong American.

    Conviction of a federal civil rights violation that results in death is punishable by life in prison or even death, but such sentences are extremely rare. The former officers will remain free on bond pending sentencing. No sentencing date has been set.

    Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder last year in state court and pleaded guilty in December in the federal case. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in the state case. Under the plea deal in the federal case, both sides agreed Chauvin should face a sentence ranging from 20 to 25 years.

    Chauvin and Thao went to the scene to help rookies Kueng and Lane after they responded to a call that Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store. Floyd struggled with officers as they tried to put him in a police SUV.

    During the monthlong federal trial, prosecutors sought to show that the officers violated their training, including when they failed to move Floyd or give him CPR. Prosecutors argued that Floyd’s condition was so serious that even bystanders without basic medical training could see he needed help.

    The defense said their training was inadequate. Kueng and Lane both said they deferred to Chauvin as the senior officer at the scene. Thao testified that he relied on the other officers to care for Floyd’s medical needs as his attention was elsewhere.

    Attorneys for the Floyd family said in a statement that the verdicts underscore the need for police departments nationwide to expand programs that encourage officers to stop other officers from using excessive force.

    “These officers tried to devise any excuse that could let them wash the blood from their hands, but following these verdicts George’s blood will forever stain them,” the statement said.

    Lane, Kueng and Thao also face a separate trial in June on state charges alleging that they aided and abetted murder and manslaughter.

    The verdicts come just days after the conviction of three white men on hate crimes charges in Georgia in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased and shot in February 2020.

    https://apnews.com/article/death-of-...ae8a317e0b6079

  6. #66
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    Chauvin gets 21 years for violating Floyd’s civil rights

    By Steve Karnowski
    The Associated Press

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, telling the former Minneapolis police officer that what he did was “simply wrong” and “offensive.”

    U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sharply criticized Chauvin for his actions on May 25, 2020, even as he opted for the low end of a sentencing range called for in a plea agreement. Chauvin, who is white, pinned Floyd to the pavement outside a Minneapolis corner store for more than nine minutes as the Black man pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and became unresponsive.

    Floyd’s killing sparked protests worldwide in a reckoning over police brutality and racism.

    “I really don’t know why you did what you did,” Magnuson said. “To put your knee on a person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong. … Your conduct is wrong and it is offensive.”

    Magnuson, who earlier this year presided over the federal trial and convictions of three other officers at the scene, blamed Chauvin alone for what happened. Chauvin was by far the senior officer present as police tried to arrest Floyd while responding to a 911 call accusing him of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. And Chauvin rebuffed questions from one of the other officers about whether Floyd should be turned on his side.

    “You absolutely destroyed the lives of three young officers by taking command of the scene,” Magnuson said.

    Chauvin’s plea agreement called for a sentence of 20 to 25 years to be served concurrent with a 22 1/2-year sentence for his state conviction of murder and manslaughter charges.

    Because of differences in parole eligibility in the state and federal systems, it means that Chauvin will serve slightly more time behind bars than he would have on the state sentence alone. He would be eligible for parole after 15 years on the state sentence, but must serve almost 18 years of his federal time before he could be released.

    He will also do his time in the federal system, where he may be safer and may be held under fewer restrictions than in the state system.

    Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson had asked for 20 years, arguing that Chauvin was remorseful and would make that clear to the court. But Chauvin, in brief remarks, made no direct apology or expression of remorse to Floyd’s family.

    Instead, he told the family that he wishes Floyd’s children “all the best in their life.”

    Chauvin wore an orange prison uniform and a protective mask, according to pool media reports from the courtroom. He waved at family and friends in the gallery as he entered. The media reports made no mention of visible reaction by Chauvin to any part of the hearing.

    Prosecutor LeeAnn Bell asked Magnuson to give Chauvin the full 25 years possible in the plea deal, highlighting the “special responsibility” that he had as a police officer to care for the people in his custody.

    “He wasn’t a rookie,” Bell said. “He knew what his training was. ... He admitted before this court that his conduct was wrong and he did it anyway.”

    Floyd’s brother Philonise also asked for the maximum possible sentence, telling Magnuson the Floyd family had “been given a life sentence.” He said afterward that he was upset that Chauvin didn’t get more time behind bars.

    Chauvin’s mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, told Magnuson that her son didn’t go to work intending to kill someone.

    “Many things have been written about him that are totally wrong such as he’s a racist, which he isn’t, that he has no heart,” she said. “I believe it is God’s will for all of us to forgive.”

    Chauvin’s guilty plea included an admission that he willfully deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer.

    It also included a count for violating the rights of a Black 14-year-old whom he restrained in an unrelated case in 2017. John Pope, now 18, told Magnuson that Chauvin “didn’t care about the outcome” of that restraint.

    “By the grace of God I lived to see another day,” Pope said. “It will continue to be a part of me for the rest of my life.”

    Magnuson has not set sentencing dates for the three other officers who were on the scene — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane — who were convicted in February of federal civil rights charges.

    Lane is also due to be sentenced Sept. 21 after pleading guilty in state court to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Thao and Kueng turned down plea deals and are due to be tried on aiding and abetting charges on Oct. 24.

    https://apnews.com/article/death-of-...4c99488b824eec

  7. #67
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    Ex-officer Derek Chauvin, convicted in George Floyd's killing, stabbed in prison, AP source says

    By MICHAEL R. SISAK
    wsoctv.com

    Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured Friday at a federal prison in Arizona, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

    The attack happened at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

    The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an incarcerated person was assaulted at FCI Tucson at around 12:30 p.m. local time Friday. In a statement, the agency said responding employees contained the incident and performed “life-saving measures” before the inmate, who it did not name, was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.

    Messages seeking comment were left with Chauvin’s lawyers and the FBI.

    No employees were injured and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said. Visiting at the facility, which has about 380 inmates, has been suspended.

    Chauvin's stabbing is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the last five months. In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed by a fellow inmate at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

    It is also the second major incident at the Tucson federal prison in a little over a year. In November 2022, an inmate at the facility's low-security prison camp pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head. The weapon, which the inmate shouldn't have had, misfired and no one was hurt.

    Chauvin, 47, was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

    Chauvin's lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he'd be a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement "largely for his own protection," Nelson wrote in court papers last year.

    Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin's appeal of his murder conviction. Separately, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn't cause Floyd's death.

    Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9½ minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

    Bystander video captured Floyd's fading cries of "I can't breathe." His death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

    Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser state and federal sentences for their roles in Floyd's death.

    Chauvin's stabbing comes as the federal Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny in recent years following wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein's jail suicide in 2019. It's another example of the agency's inability to keep even its highest profile prisoners safe after Nassar's stabbing and "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski's suicide at a federal medical center in June.

    An ongoing AP investigation has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department's largest law enforcement agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion.

    AP reporting has revealed rampant sexual abuse and other criminal conduct by staff, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

    Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters was brought in last year to reform the crisis-plagued agency. She vowed to change archaic hiring practices and bring new transparency, while emphasizing that the agency's mission is "to make good neighbors, not good inmates."

    Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, Peters touted steps she'd taken to overhaul problematic prisons and beef up internal affairs investigations. This month, she told a House Judiciary subcommittee that hiring had improved and that new hires were outpacing retirements and other departures.

    But Peters has also irritated lawmakers who said she reneged on her promise to be candid and open with them. In September, senators scolded her for forcing them to wait more than a year for answers to written questions and for claiming that she couldn't answer basic questions about agency operations, like how many correctional officers are on staff.

    https://www.wsoctv.com/news/national...outputType=amp
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