Sentence ‘seems to be appropriate’: Prez Biden
AMN / DESK
A court in Minneapolis has sentenced police officer Derek Chauvin to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd during an arrest in May 2020.
The video of the incident had galvanized a national protest movement against racism, last year.
A jury found Chauvin guilty on April 20 of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted the case said that Chauvin’s sentence is one of the longest given against using unlawful deadly force in the United States. US President Joe Biden, who has spoken several times with the Floyd family, said the sentence seemed appropriate.
Sentence ‘seems to be appropriate’: Prez Biden
President Joe Biden said on Friday that former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin’s 22-year sentence for the murder of George Floyd “seems to be appropriate” after being informed of the decision by reporters.
“I don’t know all the circumstances that were considered, but it seems to me, under the guidelines, that seems to be appropriate,” Biden said in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. However, he also said he hadn’t heard anything about the news until press relayed it when they entered the room.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years for the second-degree unintentional murder of Floyd.
Chauvin had been found guilty on that charge in April, as well as third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Sentences for the lesser charges were not handed down on Friday.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Floyd’s family in May on the anniversary of his death at the hands of police, which sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.