Minneapolis: Former cop Derek Chauvin got 22-and-a-half years’ in prison on Friday after being convicted of murdering African American George Floyd in May last year. The killing sparked America’s biggest demonstration for racial justice in decades.
Forty-five-year-old Chauvin offered his “condolences” to the Floyd family in a Minneapolis court, sans an apology, before Judge Peter Cahill handed down a lesser sentence than the 30 years sought by the prosecution.
“This (jail term) is based on your abuse of a position of trust and authority and also the particular cruelty shown to George Floyd,” Cahill told Chauvin.
The verdict was read out at the conclusion of a tense hearing. The court watched a recorded message by Floyd’s seven-year-old daughter and heard from Chauvin’s mother during the hearing.
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