Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
With a chanting crowd outside the downtown Minneapolis courtroom, the ruling just now by Minnesota Judge Peter Cahill comes a year and month after the ex-cop killed Floyd in the street by cruelly pressing his knee on the man’s throat for almost 10 minutes.
Based on routine practices, Chauvin will serve at least 2/3 of his sentence before any hope of parole – which translates into about 15 years.
The murder by the 19-year veteran cop occurred as three other officers looked on and Floyd exclaimed he couldn’t breathe. Yet another blatant killing of an African-American by law enforcement, the horrific event galvanized the nation to take to the streets in protest and to put a glaring spotlight on the police brutality and systematic racism in America and among cops.
In a Hail Mary pass, defense lawyers put Chauvin’s mother Carolyn Pawlenty up in front of the court today insists she believes in his “innocence” and pleads for her “favorite son” to receive leniency. Taking his turn at the microphone with a dog whistle, defense head Eric Nelson played to the case being “at the epicenter of the cultural and political divide” in America. To that end, Chauvin’s team has advocated for probation and time served, which would have seen the ex-cop walk Friday.
As an alternative, the defense has also been pushing a Plan B with a sentence of fewer than 10 years for their client which is in the low end of the range. Starting at around 11:30 AM PT, the sentencing hearing saw both sets of lawyers reiterate their arguments on what the sentence should be.
Today’s long-scheduled hearing follows a ruling by Judge Cahill earlier today denying Chauvin’s motion for a new trial in the Floyd murder.