Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, could be sentenced on Friday for the murder of George Floyd in 2020, following a trial widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of U.S. policing.
A jury located Chauvin, 45, guilty on April 20, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u.s.-race-georgefloyd-idCAKBN2C716I. of accidental second-diploma murder, third-degree homicide, and manslaughter.
Prosecutors have requested a 30-yr prison sentence, double the top limit indicated in the sentencing guidelines for a primary-time culprit. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill ruled earlier this month that prosecutors had sufficient grounds to sentence Chauvin harshly.
The defense has asked for probation and has sought a retrial ahead of an expected appeal. Chauvin’s attorney has argued that he was denied a fair trial because of prosecutorial and jury misconduct, as well as legal errors during the trial.
A video of Chauvin, a white man, kneeling for more than nine minutes on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in handcuffs, sparked outrage throughout the arena and the largest protest movement seen in America in many years.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general’s office wrote that Chauvin’s crime “bowled over the moral sense of the kingdom.”
In a six-page ruling last month, Cahill found that prosecutors had shown there had been 4 aggravating elements https://www.reuters.com/global/us/minnesota-judge-rules-annoyed-factors-george-floyd-murder-2021-05-12 that would allow him to hand down a long prison time period than sentencing pointers could dictate. The jury agreed that Chauvin abused his position of consideration and authority; that he handled Floyd with unique cruelty; that he committed the crime as part of a collection with three different officers; and that he committed the murder in front of kids.
Chauvin has asked the court to sentence him to probation through his lawyer, Eric Nelson, writing that the homicide of Floyd was a “first-class mistake described as a mistake made in a good religion.”
Chauvin assisted in the arrest of Floyd on suspicion of using a forged $20 bill.
Prosecutors may ask Floyd’s family to speak about the impact of his death at some point on Friday afternoon, while they are being heard in a Minneapolis court. Chauvin, who declined to testify at his trial, was given the opportunity to address the judge before he was sentenced.
In an interview, Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County’s former lead public defender, stated that the judge may also take note of Chauvin’s lack of explicit remorse in the sentencing memorandum submitted this month by his legal counsel.
“I think what Cahill would have been looking for from Chauvin or via his protection suggestions was a few obligations for his movements or some empathy for George Floyd,” she stated.
Since his conviction, Chauvin has been held in the kingdom’s safest jail, O.k. Park Heights.
In 2019, the former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was sentenced with the aid of a different decision to twelve-1/2 years in jail after he was determined guilty of 1/3-diploma murder and 2d-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting an Australian American woman, Justine Damond.
The three different cops involved in Floyd’s arrest were, like Chauvin, fired the day after. The three are scheduled to stand trial next year for assisting and abetting Floyd’s homicide.
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