The white ex-cop Derek Sovin was sentenced yesterday (Thursday) to serve 21 years in federal prison for killing, by suffocating him with his knee, African-American George Floyd.
The former police officer, 46 years old, has already been sentenced to serve 22.5 years in prison by the Minnesota state judiciary. He has appealed this decision.
The federal sentence for «violating the civil and civil rights» of the black forty-year-old is final, and is also the result of a plea bargain that required Mr. Chauvin to plead guilty.
He will serve it at the same time as the other sentence, Judge Paul Magnuson of St Paul's Court explained, while the seven months he has spent in custody will be taken into account.
«I don't know why you did that, but putting your knee on someone's neck until they die is wrong. And for that you should be punished severely,’ the magistrate explained to the accused.
During his brief remarks, Derek Chauvin wished George Floyd's children to «make it in life.» He did not apologize or express the slightest regret.
His mother assured the court that she was not racist at heart, before adding that «all lives matter, regardless of skin colour», apparently referring to the slogan and the Black Lives Matter movement to counter it.
Philoniz Floyd, brother of the deceased, who was called to testify from the bench, called for «the heaviest sentence» to be imposed on Derek Sovin, stressing that after the tragedy he could not sleep.
Giant demonstrations
On May 25, 2020, the Minneapolis police veteran remained kneeling on the back of George Floyd's neck for about ten minutes, oblivious to the outraged comments of passersby and eyewitnesses and his victim's pleas to let him breathe.
The scene, which was filmed and uploaded to social networking sites, sparked huge protests against racism and police brutality in the US and many other countries around the world.
During the high-profile trial in Minnesota in the spring of 2021, the ex-cop's attorney argued that George Floyd died of a drug overdose combined with other health problems and asserted that Derek Sovin used justified force.
The court was not convinced. The former policeman was convicted of murder and given a sentence of 22 years and six months in prison, pending an appeal by the defence.
At the same time, the federal judiciary conducted its own investigation and prosecuted him, as well as three other former colleagues, for «violating George Floyd's constitutional rights», in particular «the right not to be the victim of excessive and unreasonable force by a police officer».
These «double» prosecutions are very rare in the US, but this one reflected the importance of the case, which reignited an already bitter and tense debate about the country's racist past.
Teenager
At the federal trial, he initially pleaded not guilty, before changing his defense strategy in December 2021, accepting part of the blame for the first time.
In pleading guilty, he admitted that he abused his right to use violence «knowing it was wrong» and «without legal justification».
He also confessed to violating the rights of a 14-year-old black boy in 2017, who he kept pinned to the ground below his knee for a quarter of an hour.
The young man, John Pope, said at yesterday's hearing that «I hope he will use the time he has ahead of him to think that he could have acted differently».
In exchange for his confession, it was agreed that Derek Sovin would serve his sentence in a federal prison, rather than the state's maximum security prison, where he is currently being held in solitary confinement to protect other prisoners.
The other three police officers, who remained passive bystanders during the martyrdom and death of George Floyd, were found guilty in February by the federal judiciary, but have not yet been charged.
The state judiciary has also prosecuted them for accessory to murder. One of them, Thomas Lane, has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on September 21. The trial of the other two, Tu Tao and Alexander King, will begin on 24 October.
