Friday, March 29

Ex-MPD officers guilty on all counts in federal civil rights trial


A federal jury found three ex-Minneapolis officers guilty on all civil rights charges related to the death of George Floyd in May 2020.

ST PAUL, Minn. — After about 13 hours of deliberation, the jury in the federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers — J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — found them guilty on all charges relating to denying George Floyd his civil rights on the day of his murder in 2020.

All three officers were charged with denying Floyd his right to medical care, while Kueng and Thao also faced charges for failing to intervene with Chauvin’s use of force.

Following Thursday’s verdict, the defendants were instructed to return to court for sentencing after a pre-sentence investigation with the probation office. It was then ordered that bond be continued according to current terms and conditions.

Judge Paul Magnuson gave the jury, made up of 12 people from nine different Minnesota counties, its instructions Wednesday morning before handing off the case for deliberation. The jury in this case was not sequestered.

The three officers all entered pleas of not guilty in a pre-trial hearing in September 2021. 

Attorneys for the former officers relied heavily on the notion that prosecutors would need to prove the defendants acted with a bad purpose or motive in order to “willfully” deprive Floyd of his rights — legal language the jury had to consider.

Also Read  Kentucky vs. Arkansas score, takeaways: JD Notae's 30 points leads No. 18 Razorbacks over No. 6 Wildcats

The prosecution’s case ultimately tried to convey that the defendants knew the law, but decided not to follow it.

Derek Chauvin, the former MPD officer convicted of Floyd’s May 25, 2020 murder, was also charged with failing to render Floyd medical aid, in addition to violating his right to be “free from unreasonable seizure and force by police.” 

In December 2021, Chauvin waived his right to a trial by pleading guilty to one count of violating Floyd’s rights — in addition to a guilty plea in a separate incident involving a neck restraint used on a teenager in 2017 — in exchange for other charges connected to those cases to be dismissed.

Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder in April 2021, over a year after the world watched him kneel on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, causing his death. 

He was sentenced two months later to 22.5 years in state prison.

For the federal charges, Chauvin faces up to 25 years to serve concurrently with his state prison sentence.

Chauvin is currently serving his time in Minnesota’s only maximum security prison, Oak Park Heights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *