Derek Chauvin to Be Sentenced to 25 Years on Federal Civil Rights Charges
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Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis Police officer convicted of murder for the death of George Floyd in 2020, will be sentenced to 20-25 years in prison on federal civil rights charges.
Senior Judge Paul Magnuson, a Reagan appointee, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota approved the sentence per terms of a plea deal between Chauvin and federal prosecutors. Magnuson released a one-page order on May 4 indicating his acceptance, though he did not set a date for sentencing. Though prosecutors have said they will seek the maximum sentence of 25 years, Chauvin – with credit for good behavior – could serve between 17 and 21 years instead.
Chauvin, 46, had pled guilty in December of 2021 to criminal violations of Floyd’s federal civil rights to be free from a police officer’s unreasonable force, in “callous and wanton disregard” of his life during his restraint and neck-hold on May 25, 2020. Floyd later died in hospital due to cardiac arrest induced by asphyxiation. Three other officers at the scene with Chauvin have also pleaded guilty on similar charges.
Chauvin was also charged for causing a former 14-year-old juvenile – whose name has not been released – “bodily injury” in his role as a police officer. This incident occurred in 2017, when Chauvin, per an agreed statement of facts, held the juvenile by the throat and struck him over the head with a flashlight multiple times, before placing him in a neck-hold similar to Floyd. Both of the offenses against Chauvin are a violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 242.
In June of last year, Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, among other charges, for Floyd’s death by a Minnesota state court. He was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison, which was below the 40-year maximum sentence. Chauvin will serve his federal sentence concurrently with his state sentence.
