Biography
Derek Chauvin was a Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd on 25 May 2020. He was convicted in Minnesota state court of second-degree unintentional murder and, separately, pleaded guilty in federal court to two civil rights violations.
The State Case
The Minnesota Court of Appeals opinion affirming the conviction sets out the record. The state charged Chauvin with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. A jury found him guilty on all counts. The district court entered conviction on second-degree unintentional murder, based on the underlying offence of third-degree assault, and sentenced him to 270 months — an upward durational departure from the presumptive guideline range.
The court’s own summary of the day states that at about 8:02 p.m. on 25 May 2020, Minneapolis 911 received a report about a customer attempting to use a counterfeit $20 bill at Cup Foods. Two officers arrived at 8:08 p.m.
The Court of Appeals affirmed on 17 April 2023, holding among other things that a police officer can be convicted of second-degree unintentional felony murder for causing a death by using unreasonable force amounting to third-degree assault while effecting a lawful arrest — a holding about the availability of that charge against police, not only about this defendant.
The Federal Case
On 15 December 2021 Chauvin pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts under the federal criminal civil rights statute: willfully depriving Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable force by a police officer, resulting in bodily injury and death; and willfully depriving a then-14-year-old child of the same right, in a separate incident, resulting in the child’s bodily injury.
In the plea documents he agreed that sentencing on the Floyd count should be based on the sentence for second-degree murder, because he had acted willfully and “in callous and wanton disregard of the consequences to Mr. Floyd’s life.” On 7 July 2022 he was sentenced to 252 months, with credit for time served.
Relevance to This Site
The state case turned in part on publicity. Chauvin moved to change venue, to continue the trial and to sequester the jury, arguing that “the Twin Cities jury pools have surely been tainted” because protests, riots and looting had been “televised internationally, and near nonstop on local media.” The Court of Appeals held that a district court does not abuse its discretion in denying such motions where it takes sufficient mitigating steps and verifies that jurors can set aside their impressions.
That is a judicial engagement with the question of what saturation media coverage of an event does to the institutions that must then adjudicate it.
What Is Not Established Here
Removed in the citation audit: his birth year; the follower-count placeholder and the listing of social platforms he did not use; the claim that he served 19 years in the Minneapolis Police Department and joined in 2001; the account of prior conduct complaints, a 2006 shooting and a 2008 letter of reprimand; and the details of the bystander video, including the name and age of the person who recorded it and the description of its circulation. The video’s significance is real and documented elsewhere on this site; it is not asserted here without a source read in this pass.
Sources
- 01.
Minnesota Court of Appeals. State v. Chauvin, No. A21-1228 (Minn. Ct. App. Apr. 17, 2023). (2023). The court's own published opinion, filed 17 April 2023 (Reyes, J.), affirming the conviction on direct appeal from Hennepin County District Court, File No. 27-CR-20-12646. Source for: the charges of second-degree unintentional murder (Minn. Stat. § 609.19, subd. 2(1)), third-degree murder (§ 609.195(a)) and second-degree manslaughter (§ 609.205(1)); the jury finding Chauvin guilty on all counts; the district court convicting him of second-degree unintentional murder based on the underlying offense of third-degree assault; the sentence of 270 months in prison, an upward durational departure from the presumptive guideline range; and the underlying facts, including the 911 call at approximately 8:02 p.m. on 25 May 2020 reporting a customer attempting to use a counterfeit $20 bill at Cup Foods, and the arrival of Officers Kueng and Lane at 8:08 p.m. The opinion also holds that a police officer can be convicted of second-degree unintentional felony murder for causing a death by using unreasonable force constituting third-degree assault to effect a lawful arrest.
- 02.
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Sentenced to More Than 20 Years in Prison for Depriving George Floyd and a Minor Victim of their Constitutional Rights. (2022). Release of 7 July 2022, read through an Internet Archive capture because justice.gov returns 403 to automated clients. Source for the federal sentence of 252 months with credit for time served; for Chauvin's guilty plea on 15 December 2021 to two violations of a federal criminal civil rights statute — willfully depriving George Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable force by a police officer, resulting in bodily injury and death, and willfully depriving a then-14-year-old child of the same right in a separate incident, resulting in the child's bodily injury; and for Chauvin's agreement in the plea documents that sentencing on the Floyd count should be based on the sentence for second-degree murder because he acted willfully and in callous and wanton disregard of the consequences to Floyd's life.