Chauvin pleaded guilty to the federal civil rights charges in December in US District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota, a decision that saw a second trial but almost certainly extended his time behind bars.
Chauvin, who is white, admitted to violating Floyd’s right not to suffer ‘unreasonable seizure’ by kneeling on the handcuffed black man’s neck for more than 9 minutes in a murder captured on cellphone video which horrified people all over the world.
A state court has already sentenced Chauvin to 22½ years in prison for second degree intentional murder, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter. People sentenced to prison for crimes in Minnesota are usually paroled after serving two-thirds of their sentence.
Chauvin’s guilty plea to federal charges came as part of a deal with prosecutors that said he faced between 20 and 25 years in federal prison.
In that agreement, he admitted for the first time that he was responsible for Floyd’s death.
Floyd could be seen in videos pleading for his life before falling motionless in the road under Chauvin’s knee. A medical examiner ruled that the police restraint prevented Floyd from breathing.
Federal prosecutors asked Judge Paul Magnuson to sentence Chauvin to 25 years in prison, a sentence that would be concurrent with that of the state.
Floyd’s murder has sparked one of the largest protests ever seen in the United States, with daily marches denouncing the racism and brutality of American police departments. Chauvin was helping three colleagues arrest Floyd in May 2020 because he suspected Floyd of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
The other three former police officers who worked on Floyd’s arrest — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane — were convicted in the same federal court in February of violating Floyd’s rights. They have not yet received a sentencing date.