Derek Chauvin Gets 22.5 Years For Murder Of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS — Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will serve 22 years and six months in prison for the murder of George Floyd, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill announced Friday. Chauvin was given credit for 199 days served.

Chauvin learned of his prison sentence in person at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.

Chauvin — who was convicted in April of second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter — opted to have his sentence decided by a judge rather than a jury.

Before the sentence was announced, 7-year-old Gianna Floyd — Floyd's daughter — made a victim impact statement through a recorded video. Gianna told her father, "I miss you and I love you."

Floyd's two brothers — Philonise and Terrance — and his nephew, Brandon Williams, made victim impact statements in person Friday. All three asked the court to give Chauvin the maximum sentence allowed.

"My family and I have been given a life sentence," Philonise said. "We will never get George back."

Speaking for the defense, Carolyn Pawlenty — Chauvin's mother — told the court "my son is a good man" and that he is not a racist. "I believe a long sentence will not serve Derek well," she said.

Pawlenty noted that she and Chauvin's father will likely not be alive when he is released from prison. Addressing her son specifically in court, Pawlenty told him that he is her "favorite son."

Chauvin offers "condolences" to Floyd family

Chauvin himself spoke in court Friday, saying "I do want to give my condolences to the Floyd family," but said he couldn't give a "full, formal" statement due to ongoing legal matters "at hand."

"There's gonna be some other information in the future that would be of interest and I hope things will give you some peace of mind," Chauvin said while looking back at Floyd's family members.

Prior to Friday's sentencing hearing, state prosecutors asked Judge Cahill to give Chauvin 30 years in prison, more than twice what the state guidelines call for.

Hours before the sentencing Friday, Judge Cahill denied Chauvin's request for a mistrial and ruled that he will not hold a hearing for jury misconduct.

Leaders react

When asked about the sentence after it was announced, President Joe Biden told reporters Friday that "I don't know all the circumstances that were considered but it seems to me, under the guidelines, that seems to be appropriate."

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said that "The sentence the court just imposed on Derek Chauvin — 22.5 years — is one of the longest a former police officer has ever received for an unlawful use of deadly force."

"Like the conviction of Derek Chauvin two months ago, today’s sentencing is not justice, but it is another moment of real accountability on the road to justice," Ellison added.

Ellison also noted that "Congress has still not passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" and called on elected officials "to pass the strongest version of the bill that can be passed — and pass it now."

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released the following statement:

"Minneapolis has been at the center of a centuries-in-the-making reckoning around racial justice. The guilty verdicts handed down in the trial of former officer Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd marked an important step toward accountability from law enforcement that has been far too rare in our criminal justice system. As today’s sentence delivers an additional layer of legal accountability, the work underway to advance meaningful police reforms and structural change must and will continue in full in Minneapolis."

Chauvin Should Get Probation, No Prison Time: Defense Attorney

Chauvin's defense attorney asked the court for probation and no prison time. But Chauvin and his attorney faced an uphill battle for a reduced sentence before Friday.

Judge Peter Cahill ruled in May that four of the five factors that prosecutors argued for would apply during sentencing.

Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines, Chauvin should receive a sentence of 12.5 years, because he has never before been convicted of a crime. However, state prosecutors argued that Chauvin should receive an "upward departure" because of aggravating sentencing factors in the case.

Judge Cahill ruled that the following four sentencing aggravating factors would apply:

• Chauvin abused a position of trust and authority
• Chauvin treated George Floyd with "particular cruelty"
• Children were present during the crimes
• Chauvin committed the crime "as a group with the active participation of at least three other persons"

Judge Cahill, however, ruled that Floyd was not "particularly vulnerable."

Here are the maximum state prison sentences for each of the three offenses Chauvin was convicted of:

• 2nd-degree murder: 40 years max
• 3rd-degree murder: 25 years max
• 2nd-degree manslaughter: 10 years max

Chauvin's sentences will run concurrently, meaning he could not receive more than 40 years in prison.

In his argument for probation, defense attorney Eric Nelson cited Chauvin's "zero criminal history score, his mature age, low risk to re-offend," and that Chauvin "has the support network he needs to succeed as he moves past this incident."

Nelson also cited safety concerns, noting that "convictions for officer-involved offenses significantly increase the likelihood of him becoming a target in prison."

Until he was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death, Chauvin had never before been convicted of a crime.

"Mr. Chauvin asks the Court to look beyond its findings, to his background, his lack of criminal history, his amenability to probation, to the unusual facts of this case, and to his being a product of a 'broken' system," Nelson wrote.

Chauvin, 3 Other Ex-Cops Indicted By Federal Grand Jury

Chauvin and the three other former Minneapolis police officers who arrested Floyd now face a federal civil rights trial.

Chauvin was also indicted in a separate Sept. 4, 2017 incident. He is accused of holding a 14-year-old by the throat and hitting the teenager multiple times in the head with a flashlight without legal justification.

The three-count federal indictment in the death of Floyd claims that the four men — acting in their capacity as police officers — "willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional rights." Their actions resulted in Floyd's death, the indictment states.

The joint state manslaughter trial against former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Kiernan Lane, and Tou Thao in the death of Floyd is delayed until March 7, 2022 to make room for the federal trial.

The state murder trial against Derek Chauvin

The racially diverse jury in Chauvin's case deliberated less than a full day in April before coming to a decision that concluded the two-week trial, which was closely watched as a bellwether of official responses to police killings of Black people.

"On May 25, 2020, George Floyd died faced down on the pavement," state prosecutor Steve Schleicher told jurors in his closing argument. "Nine minutes and 29 seconds. Throughout this time George Floyd struggled to breathe."

"What the defendant did to George Floyd killed him," Schleicher added. "It was ruled a homicide. The defendant is charged with murder."

Schleicher praised the "noble" police profession in his closing statement and noted that "this case is called the state of Minnesota versus Derek Chauvin. This is not called the state of Minnesota versus the police."

"This is not an anti-police prosecution. It's a pro-police prosecution."

Chauvin took "pride over policing," said Schleicher. "George Floyd paid for it with his life."

Meanwhile, Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson, closed by saying Chauvin's actions on Memorial Day were consistent with what a "reasonable police officer" would do.

The verdict arrived less than two weeks after another Black man's fatal interaction with police sparked unrest in the Twin Cities metro.

Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter faces charges of second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Daunte Wright, 20, in the Minneapolis suburb.

Chauvin Did Not Testify

In Chauvin's trial, state prosecutors and Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson, spent 15 days arguing about Chauvin's culpability in Floyd's death. Chauvin himself declined to testify in his own defense, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

In court, Nelson blamed the "hostile" and "growing crowd" for distracting the four officers who were at the scene of Floyd's arrest. He also told jurors that drugs and heart disease, not Chauvin, killed Floyd.

A "use of force" expert called on by Nelson to testify said Chauvin's actions on the day of Floyd's death were justified.

State prosecutors and their own medical witnesses, however, said Floyd's behavior in his final moments was not consistent with a drug overdose and that his death resulted from Chauvin's restraint, which cut off oxygen to Floyd.

The autopsy report from Dr. Andrew Baker, the Hennepin County medical examiner, found fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd's system but listed Floyd's official cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest, complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression."

Baker testified that drugs and heart disease played a role in Floyd's death but were not "direct causes."

Chauvin's restraint of Floyd was "more than Mr. Floyd could take," Baker told the jury.

Dr. Martin Tobin, a forensic toxicology expert, testified that Floyd died because of a lack of oxygen. "A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died as a result of what he was subjected to," Tobin told the court.