(Minneapolis) Derek Chauvin, the white police officer accused of murdering George Floyd, the subject of the third charge in his trial that began Tuesday, sentenced the judge presiding over the proceedings in Minneapolis on Thursday.
The 44-year-old, including 19 in the police department in this northern US city, is already accused of murder and manslaughter.
Judge Peter Cahill agreed to add the “murder charge” to 3H Degree “and is punishable by imprisonment of 25 years, after several legal appeals.
Ben Crump, a lawyer for the George Floyd family, said he was “satisfied” with the decision.
“The trial is extremely painful and the family wants to mourn.” We are happy that all legal avenues have been explored and that the trial can continue.
The trial began on Tuesday with the selection of the first jury. The substantive debate is scheduled to begin on March 29 and a verdict is expected at the end of April.
Derek Chauvin was kneeling for nearly nine minutes on the neck of the forty-year-old black man, handcuffed and pinned to the floor on his stomach, during his arrest on May 25, 2020.
In front of frightened bystanders, George Floyd shot twenty times “I can’t breathe” before fainting. Doctors who arrived on the spot could not revive him soon after that.
Derek Chauvin’s attorney believes his client is not responsible for the death of the African American who, he says, succumbed to a fentanyl overdose.
George Floyd’s death sparked a historic outrage in the United States and around the world against racism and police brutality.
