Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for the murder of George Floyd.
Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s back and neck for more than nine minutes, pleaded guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights as part of the plea agreement to avoid a second federal trial and the possibility of life behind bars, if he had been convicted in US District Court.
Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after a trial in April 2021 and sentenced to 22.5 years in a state prison in June that year.
Federal prosecutors asked the court for Chauvin’s sentence to run concurrently with his state charges.
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Judge Paul Magnuson told Chauvin during the civil rights violation sentencing that to “put your knee on another person’s neck until they’re deceased is wrong”.
“And for that you must be substantially punished,” Magnuson added, according to CNN.
Magnuson sentenced Chauvin to 252 months in prison, but subtracted seven months for time served.
Mr. Floyd, 46, died on 25 May 2020 after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds in Minneapolis for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store.
