Derek Chauvin appeared in court today (June 25) where he learned his fate, for killing George Floyd.
Chauvin, who is the first police officer to be convicted of killing a Black person in the state of Minnesota, was asking for probation with time served. Prosecutors wanted to send him away for 30 years.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to an 22-year sentence, for kneeling on the 46-year-old rapper’s neck for almost 9 minutes on May 25, 2020, as Floyd pleaded for his life.
Normal sentencing guidelines called for Derek Chauvin to receive between 10 and 15 years in prison, but Judge Cahill ruled prosecutors had proven there were four aggravating factors related to Big Floyd’s death, which resulted in the lengthy prison sentence.
Judge Cahill said those factors included abuse of a position of trust and authority; cruelty; killing Floyd in front of children, with the active participation of three other people.
“I ask about him all the time. I ask how did my dad get hurt…I want to play with him. I want to play with him, have fun, go on a plane ride, and that’s it. We used to have dinner meals every single night before we went to bed. My daddy always used to help me brush my teeth,” 7-year-old Gianna Floyd said during a heart-wrenching witness impact statement, adding she “missed” him and “loved” him.
Those three other people are ex-cops Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng, who stood by and did nothing but watch George Floyd die.
Thao, Lane and Kueng are supposed to go on trial in March of 2022, for aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.