A Minnesota judge on Friday sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
Handed down by Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, the sentence was greater with what legal experts predicted.
“Determining the appropriate sentence, in any case, and in this case is a legal analysis. It's applying the rule of law to the facts of an individual and specific case,” Cahill said from the Hennepin County courthouse.
“What the case is, or what the sentence is not based on emotion word sympathy. At the same time I want to acknowledge, deep in tremendous pain, but all the families are feeling especially the Floyd family,” he added.
Chauvin was granted credit for time served, NBC News reported. Prosecutors had asked that Chauvin receive 30 years in prison. His lawyer sought probation.
In April, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, all of which required the jury to conclude that his actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable.
46-year-old Floyd died on May 25 of last year during an arrest operation in Minneapolis, after he attempted to pass off a counterfeit bill.
After footage recorded on a cell phone of part of the arrest showed an officer pinning Floyd down with a knee to the back of the neck, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder. The charges were later amended to second-degree murder.
Chauvin’s knee remained on Floyd’s neck for about nine and a half minutes, even after Floyd became unresponsive.
Three other officers present during the arrest - Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao – were later arrested and charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
An autopsy performed by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, the results of which were released in early June of 2020, concluded that Floyd’s death was likely the result of homicide, concluding that Floyd had died as a result of police force during his arrest, while noting the additional influence of fentanyl intoxication and heart disease.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)