All three former Minneapolis police officers accused in George Floyd’s death were found guilty on Thursday of violating the Black father’s civil rights.
J. Alexander Kueng held Floyd down with Thomas Lane, while Tou Thao blocked bystanders from providing Floyd with any aid. Their peer, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes and was convicted of murdering him. While Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison in the state case against him, he pleaded guilty to federal charges in a plea deal that caps any additional time in prison at two-and-a-half years. In the federal case against Chauvin’s peers, Thao and Kueng pleaded not guilty to failing to intervene in Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force, and Lane, Thao, and Kueng pleaded not guilty to willfully failing to aid Floyd. They were found guilty of all charges against them, reporter Rochelle Olson tweeted.
Updates will be added as the trial continues. Jump below the fold for more information on the trial to date.
Thursday, Feb 24, 2022 · 11:45:09 PM +00:00 · Lauren Sue
Philonese Floyd, George Floyd's brother, said during a press conference with prosecutors that today is a good day. "This is something we want everybody to remember,” he said in statements covered by the Star-Tribune. “If you kill somebody, you're going to get time."
Philonese Floyd used the press conference to urge Congress to ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants as well as end the controversial legal protection known as qualified immunity. The doctrine frees individual government officials and police officers from guilt in lawsuits unless they have violated a “clearly established” statutory or constitutional right.
The asks Philonese drew attention to have been central elements of activists’ legislative push following the death of not only George Floyd at the hands of police but Breonna Taylor, and more recently 22-year-old Amir Locke. Locke was under a blanket on the couch during a raid on Feb. 2, when police employed a no-knock warrant to shoot and kill him. Similarly, Taylor was killed when police raided her home executing a no-knock warrant on Mar. 13, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Philonese has been fighting for a change in the law since his brother’s murder. "I don't know how to act right now because I'm getting emotional,” he said. “I got a lot of stuff going through my head ... This has been a journey."
In a federal case that swapped in alternate jurors repeatedly, a 12-person jury ultimately took about 13 hours to convict the officers after starting deliberations on Wednesday morning. Before releasing the jury to deliberate, Judge Paul Magnuson gave them 38 pages of jury instructions, Olson reported. "I caution u that ... inappropriate behavior on the part of a police officer does not necessarily rise to the level of a federal constitutional violation. It is possible for a law enforcement officer to act contrary to ... training, without violating the... Constitution," Olson tweeted of the judge's instructions.
Olson also tweeted: "You may find that the defendant acted willfully even if you find that he had no real familiarity with the Constitution or with the particular constitutional right involved. ..."
The government explained in its indictment of Thao, Kueng, and Lane that they "willfully deprived" Floyd of the right "to be free from a police officer's deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs."
"Specifically, the defendants saw George Floyd lying on the ground in clear need of medical cate, and willfully failed to aid Floyd, thereby acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of harm to Floyd," federal officials wrote in the indictment. “This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, George Floyd.”
Thao and Kueng were additionally charged with "willfully" depriving Floyd of the right "to be free from an unreasonable seizure." Officials stated in the indictment:
"Specifically, Defendants Kueng and Thao were aware that Defendant Chauvin was holding his knee across George Floyd's neck as Floyd lay handcuffed and unresisting, and that Defendant Chauvin continued to hold Floyd to the ground even after Floyd became unresponsive, and the defendants willfully failed to intervene to stop Defendant Chauvin's use of unreasonable force. This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, George Floyd.”
It’s difficult to predict what the verdict could mean in terms of sentencing.
"Federal civil rights violations that result in death are punishable by up to life in prison or even death, but those sentences are extremely rare," Associated Press reporter Amy Forliti wrote last month. "Federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted."
Up next for the ex-officers is a state trial, set to begin in June. Lane, Kueng, and Thao have pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
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