Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights in a hearing Wednesday, saving the former Minneapolis officer from another trial and potentially ending up in prison for the rest of his life. Chauvin is currently serving a 22 1/2 year sentence for state charges in Floyd’s death.
He originally pleaded not guilty to depriving Floyd of his rights as well as the rights of a Black 14-year-old boy in a separate case from September 2017. Chauvin was accused of holding the teenager by the neck and beating him in the head with a flashlight. NBC News reports that Chauvin changed his plea in this second case as well.
According to the New York Times, Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement in Minnesota’s only maximum security prison. His guilty plea is part of a deal with federal prosecutors that will allow him to serve his state sentence concurrent with the federal one while in a federal prison, possibly away from other prisoners he may have arrested.
This is definitely a change in tune after the fight Chauvin attempted to put up, without a lawyer, back in September. The ex-cop asserted in a court filing that he wanted to appeal his murder conviction over a long list of “issues” including prosecutorial misconduct and the judge allegedly abusing his discretion.
In accordance with the plea deal, federal prosecutors asked that Chauvin be sentenced to 20 to 25 years, five years of supervised probation and an agreement to never work as a police officer again.
“We just wanted accountability because we can never get justice because we can never get George back,” Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, said in a news conference Wednesday. Floyd’s family as well as the teenager in the second federal civil rights complaint were in court for the hearing.
“It’s a good day for justice,” Floyd reportedly told the boy in court, according to NBC.
Three other officers facing charges in Floyd’s death will now go to trial without Chauvin in January. Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were also federally indicted and pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. Lawyers for the three former officers previously asked for a separate trial from Chauvin, fearing his presence would bias the jury.