(CNN) –– Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop convicted in April of the murder of George Floyd, pleaded guilty Wednesday of federal charges for violating civil rights, during a declaration change hearing before the United States District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Chauvin also admitted responsibility in a different case, in which he is accused of using similar tactics against a 14-year-old in Minneapolis during 2017.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors are asking that Chauvin be sentenced to 300 months in prison, or 25 years. This sentence would be served simultaneously with his sentence of 22½ years on state murder charges.
In addition to the state murder case, Chauvin was charged with two federal charges related to his police work. First, he was charged with two counts related to Floyd’s death, including depriving Floyd of the right to be free from “unreasonable capture, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer. police”.
He also faces a second indictment for an incident in which he allegedly used similar tactics with a 14-year-old from Minneapolis in September 2017. The complaint alleges that he held the teenager by the neck and struck him on the head with a flashlight. He also held his knee to the teenager’s neck and upper back even after the teenager lay face down, handcuffed and not resisting.
Chauvin pleaded not guilty to the federal charges last September. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
The video of Derek Chauvin kneeling over George Floyd
Chauvin’s court appearance occurs nearly 18 months after George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020. An event that sparked protests across the country against police brutality and racial injustice. Witness video showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, while the 46-year-old man, handcuffed and lying face down on the street, gasped for air. The images also captured Floyd telling Chauvin and other police officers: “I can’t breathe.”
In April, Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional manslaughter in the commission of a felony, unintentional manslaughter with disregard for life, and accidental manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in state prison. Under Minnesota law, Chauvin will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence, or 15 years, and will be eligible for supervised release for the remaining seven and a half years.
The federal indictment, revealed in May, alleges that Chauvin and his former colleagues committed wrongdoing on the day Floyd died.
Accusation against other policemen
Former police officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng are also charged in connection with an alleged failure to intervene in Chauvin’s excessive use of force, according to the federal indictment. Chauvin, Thao, Kueng and Thomas Lane also face a charge for allegedly failing to provide Floyd with medical assistance.
Thao, Kueng and Lane pleaded not guilty to the charges in September.
The indictment noted that “the defendants saw George Floyd lying on the ground in clear need of medical attention. And they deliberately failed to help Floyd, acting with deliberate disregard for a substantial risk of harm to Floyd.” .
Furthermore, Thao, Kueng and Lane face charges of aiding and inciting accidental homicide and aiding and inciting the on Floyd’s death. They have pleaded not guilty. His trial is currently scheduled for March 2022.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism