Former police officer Derek Chauvin was just sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for his conviction in the murder of George Floyd. That sentence was hardly a surprise though some suggested that he would be sentenced near to 30 years. It is a fair sentence that adds ten years to the baseline offense due to the four aggravating factors found by the Court. What was surprising was the statement of Chauvin himself to the court and the family.
For first offenders, second-degree murder will often result in 150 months or 12½ years in prison. In 2019, former officer Mohamed Noor was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison after for the third-degree murder and manslaughter of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. However, the aggravators could have pushed the sentence to 30 years. This was a fair and reasonable sentence given his holding a position of authority in the commission of the crime.
What was curious was Chauvin’s statement to the Court:
“Due to legal matters, I’m not able to give a full formal statement … I give my condolences to the Floyd family, there’s gonna be some other information in the future that will be of interest and I hope these will give you some peace of mind.”
That was something of a mystery since any new evidence would hardly bring closure for the family. The only thing that I can imagine would be a plea to the pending federal charges. It is possible for Chauvin to accept a plea with a recommended sentence while continuing his appeal on the state charges. Violating someone’s civil rights is punishable “by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty.”
Chauvin is looking at a precarious and punishing time in prison. Former officers are given special protections but they face ongoing threats against their lives. For Chauvin, those threats will be magnified given his notoriety. He can be placed in special units to avoid the need for continuing segregation but this is a more isolated existence for a former officer.
I read a few weeks ago that the attorneys for Officer Tao, who is one of the three junior officers, has evidence that the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Dr. Baker, received a threat prior to issuing his report calling Mr. Floyd’s death a “homicide.” The threat allegedly came from a former D.C. medical examiner. In the threat, the D.C.M.E. told Dr. Baker that if Dr. Baker did not call Mr. Floyd’s death a “homicide,” the D.C.M.E. would publish a column in the Washington Post that would ruin Dr. Baker’s professional reputation and make it difficult for him to continue to practice medicine. Recall that Dr. Baker had had issued a preliminary report that Mr. Floyd did not die from strangulation or asphyxiation. The defense’s medical witness went into great detail about whether Dr. Baker should have termed the death “unknown” or “inconclusive” rather than “homicide,” and that if an M.E. does not rule a death a homicide, it is nearly impossible for a prosecutor to commence a murder or manslaughter case. Thus, if Dr. Baker had not ruled the death a homicide, the prosecution would have been out of luck. As it was, Dr. Baker stated that the police action that contributed to Mr. Floyd’s death was causing “stress” in subduing Mr. Floyd, not in asphyxiating him because the physical indicia of asphyxiation or strangulation were not present in Mr. Floyd’s remains. If Dr. Baker were threatened into coming up with the “stress” to add to cardiopulmonary arrest in order to get to “homicide” the case would be another kettle of fish. Perhaps I am misremembering this, but we shall see.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/elderly-asian-man-dies-california-robbery-hate-crimes-swell
Based on what I know about SF Bay Area, this murderer will get a shorter sentence than Derek Chauvin or might even be found not guilty.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/jury-finds-undocumented-immigrant-guilty-murder-kate-steinle/story?id=51497686
If I am a cop in working a liberal city, why even show up for work. Cops now have less rights than criminals, even illegal immigrant criminals.
I wouldn’t count on any cop taking any risk while working in the ghetto to preserve law and order. Sad state of affairs courtesy of the Left. Query: did the judge give Chauvin any credit for taking an unrehabilitated violent, drug-addled felon off the street?
Mespo: “did the judge give Chauvin any credit for taking an unrehabilitated violent, drug-addled felon off the street?”
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He didn’t want to be the first judge to have his blood sprinkled on the altar of the Floyd God.
Here is the type of problem the police, citizens and businesses face in the ‘hood.
See what happens when an Amazon truck is left unguarded:
https://audio.nationalvanguard.com/swarm.mp4
I guess Bezos’ donation to BLM didn’t make much of an impression.
By all means, though, prosecute the police who try to stop this looting.
Maybe this is how Amazon vehicles should be made for some communities. https://youtu.be/YmtkgrRdi_A
Pizza delivery too.
Probably with a big fuel surcharge.
P. Binca “The sentence sends a strong message to police that you cannot afford to be lulled into complacency on the job,
and cannot think of overwhelming physical force as “the way”
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I think it sends a message to policemen who want to preserve their freedom not to try to enforce the law or prevent crime in black communities.
Quit, retire soon, or get a job in a sane jurisdiction far away from Democrat local politics and mob justice.
Many policemen are doing just that–they got the message–and the crime rates, including murder, are soaring in those cities. Many of the victims are black, but nobody really cares. The left is searching for another Officer Chauvin to crucify to feed the bloodlust and racial resentment whipped up by the left.
Who gave the Floyd family 22 million dollars before Chauvin even went to trial? That alone is saying the police were in the wrong and just about convicting Chauvin of murder.
Bruce– Yes, it looks as if the politicians wanted to taint the trial.
The sentence sends a strong message to police that you cannot afford to be lulled into complacency on the job,
and cannot think of overwhelming physical force as “the way” when tasked with a tricky situation. For older cops, ex-military,
and those cops addicted to 1st-person-shooter video games as youth, there’s some unlearning to do — let’s remember that that
“overwhelming force” was taught as mainstream policing philosophy for centuries, without regard to its impact as a psychological
accelerant of alienation and demonization in the mind of both the cop and the citizen.
De-escalation is a relatively new concept, and difficult for many cops to put into practice, being counter-instinctual and requiring copious amounts of impulse control and summoned courage. And, police departments have yet to seriously tackle the psychological dynamics at work when multiple cops are responding as a “team”, and how impulses toward team-loyalty and status-seeking can work against de-escalation.
pbinca, I suggest that you volunteer to go on ridealongs regularly with your local police. Granted, someone conducting a ride along will take pains to prevent putting the volunteer in jeopardy, but it would be good opportunity for you to see, firsthand, what it’s like to deal with a sometimes violent and unpredictable public.
Take, for example, this video of a foot chase where the suspect suddenly turns while firing a gun, shooting police officers before he’s shot. When things go left they do so in a fraction of a second.
https://youtu.be/mxTclo9oDMY
Yes I agree, it’s very easy to say use psychology and “new methods “ to control criminals and drug addicts like Floyd , but another and completely different one is to confront them in real life… Gd is going to take care of the corrupt and coward judges that have this police 22 years of jail for defending us from people like Floyd
Shame on all the people that have canonized this man and have utilized his death to steal and manipulate everything in this country including the 2020 elections