(CSU)At a change of plea hearing in US District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota, Derek Chauvin, A former police officer who was convicted of murder in April, pled guilty to federal civil rights charges.
Chauvin also admitted guilt in a different instance in 2017, when he was accused of using identical methods on a 14-year-old Minneapolis girl.
Prosecutors are recommending that Chauvin be sentenced to 300 months in prison, or 25 years, as part of the plea agreement, to be served concurrently with his 22-and-a-half-year term on state murder charges.
Chauvin was indicted on two federal charges connected to his policing, which were unrelated to his state murder prosecution. First, he was charged with two offenses in connection with Floyd’s death, including depriving Floyd of his right to be free from “unreasonable seizure,” which includes the right to be free from police officers using excessive force.
In September 2017, he was also accused in a second indictment for allegedly using identical tactics on a Minneapolis 14-year-old. According to the indictment, he held the adolescent by the throat; The officer hit the boy in the head with a flashlight. He also put his knee on the boy’s neck and upper back while he was handcuffed.
In Sept, he pleaded not guilty to the federal accusations. A request for a response from Chauvin’s lawyer was not returned.
The 46-year-old Black man, handcuffed and lying prone in the street, gasped for air and told Chauvin and other officers, “I can’t breathe.” Chauvin’s court appearance came nearly 18 months after the former officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck and back for 9 minutes and 26 seconds while the 46-year-old Black man, the man, was lying on the ground, handcuffed. He said “I can’t breathe” to Chauvin and other officers.
Floyd’s killing on May 25, 2020, provoked nationwide protests against racial inequality and police brutality. Chauvin was given a sentence of a little less than a third of his life in prison. He was found guilty of three crimes related to the murder of Floyd.
Chauvin needs to do seven and a half years out of his sentence before he is eligible for supervised release. Chauvin is accused of wrongdoing on the day Floyd died, according to an indictment unsealed in May. The indictment charges Chauvin, Tou Thao, Kueng, and Lane with depriving Floyd of rights because they didn’t help him when he needed it. According to the federal indictment, Thao and Kueng are also charged with neglecting to intervene in Chauvin’s use of excessive force.
In September, Thao, Kueng, and Lane pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
Thao, Kueng, and Lane are still facing state charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death. They have entered a not-guilty plea. The trial date has been set for March 2022.
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