Derek Chauvin, the Minnesota police officer, found guilty of killing George Floyd in May 2020, was sentenced to over 20 years in prison on Thursday, nearly seven months after he pleaded guilty in court to violating the Black man's civil rights.
United States District Judge Paul Magnuson called Chauvin's treatment of Floyd "offensive" and "unconscionable" just before handing down the sentence. In his remarks, the judge said he did not understand why the former police officer did what he did at the time of the incident, arguing that placing your knee on another person's neck until they died was simply wrong.
Derek Chauvin's Prison Sentence
Federal prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Chauvin to 25 years in prison, on the high end of the plea agreement's 20- to 25-year range. They argued that the former police officer abused his authority as a law enforcement personnel and acted callously.
On the other hand, the defense asked Magnuson for 20 years, arguing that the defendant was remorseful for what he did and that he has accepted responsibility for his actions. The judge decided to hand out a 21-year sentence, with credit for the time he has already served, bringing his sentence to 20 years and five months, as per NBC News.
Currently, the former police officer is serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence after being found guilty of second and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter, in April 2021. Initially, Chauvin pleaded guilty to the federal charges, but he changed his plea in December.
At the time, Chauvin also admitted guilt in a separate federal indictment in connection with allegations that he deprived a 14-year-old boy of his civil rights in an encounter in September 2017. The plea allowed the former police officer to avoid another high-profile trial, and the sentence reflects 20 years for the charge related to Floyd and five months for the other case.
According to Axios, Chauvin, who has not yet fully publicly addressed his actions against Floyd, has not yet apologized during a brief statement. Instead, the disgraced police officer said that he hopes that the victim's children have "excellent guidance in becoming good adults."
George Floyd's Death
The plea means that Chauvin would likely stay locked behind bars longer since federal prisoners typically serve a higher percentage of their full sentence than state-level offenders in Minnesota. On the other hand, Chauvin will now serve a sentence in what is more likely a safer environment.
In the Minnesota prison system, inmates qualify for parole earlier compared to those in the federal system. The 46-year-old has also been held in "administrative segregation" for his own safety at the state's maximum-security prison at Oak Park Heights.
Chauvin has largely been confined to a 10-by-10-foot room which he has been allowed to leave for an average of one hour a day for exercise. Eric Nelson, the defendant's attorney, wrote in a request for a 20-year sentence last month that the former police officer still "spends much of his time in solitary confinement, largely for his own protection," USA Today reported.
Related Article: Brittney Griner Update: Joe Biden Calls Wife of WNBA Star, Reveals Attempts To Bring Brittney Home
