White former police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced by a United States federal judge to more than 20 years in prison for violating the civic rights of African-American George Floyd, for having suffocated him with his knee to death, on May 25, 2020, a time he had been arrested and handcuffed for an alleged misdemeanor.
The 46-year-old former police officer received the federal sentence for “violation of civil rights” of the African-American and it is final because it derives from his acceptance of guilt.
“I really don’t know why he has done what he has done,” the federal court judge said. in the district of Minnesota Paul Magnuson when pronouncing the sentence, picked up the AFP news agency.
“But putting your knee on someone else’s neck until they die is wrong” and “should be substantially punished,” he claimed.
During a brief intervention, Derek Chauvin wished George Floyd’s children “success in life” but did not apologize or express remorse.
His mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, assured that he was not a ruthless racist and added that “all lives matter, whatever their skin color”, paraphrasing the slogan Black Lives Matter (black lives matter).
The deceased’s brother, Philonise Floyd, claimed “the maximum penalty” for Derek Chauvin and said that since the tragedy he has not been able to sleep.
Chauvin had been convicted of murdering Floyd in a Minnesota state court trial last year and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison, a sentence he has appealed. as reconstructed by the American newspaper The New York Times.
This sentence came in a separate federal case in which Chauvin pleaded guilty, severely limiting his right to challenge the sentence.
Federal and state sentences must be served simultaneously so with the deduction of the time already served in prison, the prison sentence amounts to just over 20 years.
The former officer, in addition to being sentenced for using excessive force under the guise of law against Floyd, was also tried for injuring a 14-year-old boy, also black, in an unrelated but similar incident.
