Prosecutors are asking for Derek Chauvin to be sentenced for 30 years but his counsel, Eric Nelson, does not agree. Chauvin's lawyer said on Wednesday that they will be contesting the 30-year sentence because there was no impartiality in the case.
In an article by the Sun, one of the jurors, Brandon Mitchell, had worn a Black Lives Matter shirt several times, raising the question that the BLM may have undermined the outcome of the trial.
Last April, the ex-cop was judged guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder for the death of George Floyd in 2020. Chauvin will be sentenced on June 25 in a Minneapolis court, reported the Epoch Times.
Chauvin prefers probation because of his age
The defendant would prefer probation because of his age of 43, as written in a memorandum of his lawyer's counterargument.
Nelson wrote in the 17-page filing, "Police officers have a significantly higher average chance of dying from several diseases compared to males in different professions, and overall life expectancy is generally shorter due to the nature of the job. The accused is already forty-four years old and approaching the prime of his life. He has been tentatively assessed with cardiovascular disease and, like so many ex-police officers, could die at a younger age."
Next, Chauvin's lawyer stated facts why the 30-year sentence is not appropriate. One reason is that he will be a definite target for inmates in prison, especially for officer-involved offenses, which makes it dangerous for the defendant. According to Nelson, probation is the proper sentence to avoid a bad situation in prison.
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Because of safety concerns, Chauvin has been placed in solitary confinement at Minnesota's only high-security prison, the Oak Park Heights federal prison at Stillwater.
Chauvin's lawyer further defended his reason of why his client should get a lighter sentence, saying that compared to worse offenders, Chauvin has not been charged with anything, and he has been cooperative. Another is the case has been the focus of the public, thus it has lost its objectivity.
The defense counsel asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill for a strict probationary sentence that includes equal time in jail that has been served by the defendant. But, Minnesota prosecutors are adamant about the 30 years in prison.
Before the longer sentence is imposed, the factors should be examined if they are valid not because of an unsubstantiated reason to justify jailing Derek Chauvin longer than needed.
The officer will only be punished for his most serious crime, second-degree murder, according to Minnesota law. The convict is facing a presumptive sentence of 128 to 180 months in jail.
If condemned to prison, the defendant will serve just two-thirds of his sentence in prison before being put on supervised release for the remainder of his sentence, according to the state law.
Even if Judge Cahill would allow a longer sentence, Nelson said that nothing can reverse what happened, thus probation is the proper sentence for his client.
