A United States federal court has sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating the civil rights of George Floyd.
Gatekeepers News reports that Floyd, an African-American man, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for about 9 minutes while he was handcuffed. The incident triggered protests as people called for justice and an end to racism.
US District Judge Paul Magnuson rebuked Chauvin at the sentencing hearing on Thursday, calling the ex-policeman’s actions as “offensive”.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did,” Magnuson said. “To put your knee on a person’s neck until they expire is simply wrong … Your conduct is wrong and it is offensive.”
Chauvin is already in jail in Minnesota after he was sentenced in a state case in 2021 to 22.5 years for murdering Floyd. He will serve both sentences concurrently at a federal detention facility.
But Thursday’s sentence means that he will likely spend more time behind bars because inmates become eligible for parole earlier in Minnesota than in federal custody.
The former officer had pleaded guilty to federal charges late last year . Three other former Minneapolis police officers who were involved in the incident also were convicted in federal court in February for violating Floyd’s civil rights. They are awaiting sentencing.
