Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to serve 21 years in prison on federal civil rights charges more than two years after George Floyd’s murder, CNN reports.
On Thursday (July 7), a federal judge announced that Chauvin was sentenced to 252 months in prison for his role in the killing of the 46-year-old unarmed Black man.
However, seven months for time served was subtracted from the sentence, so the former cop will only spend 245 months behind bars.
Thursday’s federal sentencing follows Chauvin pleading guilty in December 2021 to violating Floyd’s civil rights as he admitted to kneeling on the 46-year-old’s neck well after he became unresponsive – all of which came after he originally pleaded not guilty.
Through Chauvin’s plea agreement, prosecutors recommended a 20 to 25-year sentence.
However, during the federal sentence hearing, Philonise Floyd, Floyd’s brother, plead for the ex-cop to be given the maximum sentence.
“George’s life matters,” he said.
”The [Floyd] family and I have been given a life sentence, we will never get George back.”
On May 25, 2020, Floyd was left unable to breathe as Chauvin fatally knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. Former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao were also charged for their involvement in Floyd’s death.
On separate, state charges, Chauvin was sentenced in June 2021 to 22.5 years of jail time for second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
Per Minnesota law, Chauvin will be eligible for supervised release after serving two-thirds, or 15 years, of his sentence. The former Minneapolis cop has appealed his conviction.
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