Our live coverage has ended. Read more about his sentencing here.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced Friday to more than two decades in jail following his conviction for the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Here is what you need to know:
Derek Chauvin will remain in a restricted housing unit, separated from the general population at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights “for the time being,” Minnesota Department of Corrections spokesperson Sarah Fitzgerald tells CNN.
Chauvin has been held at the correctional facility in Stillwater, Minnesota, about 25 miles east of downtown Minneapolis while awaiting sentencing for the murder of George Floyd.
A number of factors will be taken into consideration when determining where Chauvin will ultimately serve his prison sentence. Facility placement is based on “length of sentence, offense characteristics, programming directives, criminal history, institutional adjustment, safety, detainers, escape history, and prior incarcerations,” Fitzgerald said.
According the Minnesota Department of Corrections, all units in Administrative Control Unit where Chauvin is housed have a camera. All the unit cameras are monitored and corrections officers do rounds at least every 30 minutes. Upon intake into the facility, all people are assessed for mental health concerns each time they come back to the facility.
Fitzgerald added a new mugshot of Chauvin will be made available on Monday.
In a 22-page memorandum, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill explained his rational for sentencing former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin to 22 and a half years for the second-degree unintentional murder of George Floyd.
The sentence exceeds the Minnesota sentencing guideline range of 10 years and eight months to 15 years for the crime.
Cahill rejected a defense request for probation, citing reasons including “because a probationary sentence would be disproportionate and understate the severity of Mr. Chauvin’s offense.”
“Mr. Chauvin’s continuing insistence that he believed ‘he was simply performing his lawful duty in assisting other officers in the arrest of George Floyd’ and was acting “in good faith reliance [on] his own experience as a police officer and the training he had received… was rejected by every supervisory and training officer of the Minneapolis Police Department who testified at trial as well as by the jury,” Cahill wrote.
Cahill said two aggravating factors warranted the harsher sentence: Chauvin “abused his position of trust or authority” and treated Floyd with “particular cruelty.”
“These factual findings provide a ‘[s]ubstantial and compelling’ basis for an aggravated sentencing departure, because they demonstrate that Mr. Chauvin’s conduct ‘was significantly more … serious than that typically involved in the commission of the crime[s] in question,’” Cahill wrote citing prior cases. “’Defendant objectively remained indifferent to Mr. Floyd’s pleas’ even as ‘Mr. Floyd was begging for his life and obviously terrified by the knowledge that he was likely to die…’ Mr. Chauvin’s prolonged restraint of Mr. Floyd was also much longer and more painful than the typical scenario in a second-degree or third-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter case.”
Two other aggravating factors the court had earlier found were present in this incident, that children were at the scene of Floyd’s death and that the crime was committed by a group of officers, did not warrant an upwards sentencing departure, Cahill found.
Under Minnesota law, Chauvin will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence in prison (15 years), and he will be eligible for supervised release for the other seven and a half years.
Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced today to 22 and a half years in prison for the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Here’s what it looked like outside the Minneapolis courthouse:
Philonise Floyd reflected on his brother George Floyd’s life following the sentencing of Derek Chauvin and what his loss means to his niece.
Philonise Floyd added: “I have so many different people I spoke to, Africa, all around the world, and they all think the same way. Your skin color should not define who you are. It should never be a weapon.”
Watch:
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is calling on lawmakers to help curb police brutality.
“I’m not talking about the kind of change that takes decades. I’m talking about real change, concrete change that real people can do now,” said Ellison in the wake of Derek Chauvin’s sentencing.
“At this historic moment, there is so much legislation around the country, in city councils, county boards, state legislatures, and Congress that is still waiting to be passed. If these bills were passed, they would make the deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers less likely.”
On Friday afternoon, a judge in Minnesota sentenced Chauvin, a former police officer, to 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
“Every one of these bills at every level of government is critical for helping our families, our law enforcement officers, communities, and the country heal,” said Ellison. “Above all, Congress has still not passed the George Floyd Justice [in] Policing Act. I call on leaders and members of Congress to pass the best and strongest version of this bill.”
Citing a continued “distrust between community and police,” Ellison noted that such a fissure leads to an increase in violence and death.
“And at a moment where violent crime is spiking across the nation in major cities, we simply cannot afford the distrust,” said Ellison. “The schism leaves us all a little less safe.”
President Biden reacted Friday to the sentencing verdict in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “I don’t know all the circumstances that were considered, but it seems to me, under the guidelines, that seems to be appropriate.”
Chauvin was sentenced earlier Friday to 22 and a half years for the second-degree unintentional murder of George Floyd. Sentences for the lesser convictions of second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder were not adjudicated.
Biden, when asked to react to the sentence, told reporters in the Oval Office, “I’ve not been able to hear anything about what’s happened,” prompting a reporter to inform him of Chauvin’s sentence.
Watch more from CNN’s Jeremy Diamond:
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents George Floyd’s family, said the prison sentence for Derek Chauvin should “not be the exception when a Black person is killed by brutality by police.”
Watch:
Rev. Al Sharpton was critical of the 22.5 year jail sentence imposed on Derek Chauvin this afternoon, saying the former police officer should have received the maximum sentence.
Sharpton added: “We got more than we thought only because we have been disappointed so many times before, 22 and a half years is longer than we’ve ever got. But shorter than what we should’ve gotten in the past.”
Watch the moment:
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison placed the sentencing of Derek Chauvin this afternoon in perspective, saying he hopes “this moment gives us pause and allows us to rededicate ourselves to the real societal change that will move us much further along the road to justice.”
Ellison went on to call for the passage of The George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, which remains stalled in Congress.
“I call on leaders and members of Congress to pass the best and strongest version of this bill that can be passed and to pass it now. President Biden called on the Congress to pass this bill. It must be passed. Lives are depending upon it. It’s just that simple,” he said.
Watch more:
Floyd family attorney Ben Crump issued a statement moments after ex-police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison for George Floyd’s murder Friday afternoon.
“Day after day, year after year, police kill Black people without consequence. But today, with Chauvin’s sentence, we take a significant step forward – something that was unimaginable a very short time ago,” the statement continued.
Bridgett Floyd, George Floyd’s sister and founder of the George Floyd Memorial Foundation, issued a statement moments after Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for Floyd’s murder Friday afternoon.
“Our focus at the George Floyd Memorial Foundation will now move to building support to ensure that the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act becomes law and brings with it the hope for the substantive change that we need so desperately in this country,” the statement continued.
CNN political commentator Van Jones reacted moments after the judged sentenced Derek Chauvin to 22 1/2 years in prison, calling the sentence “very disappointing” and saying the judge should have handed down the maximum possible penalty for the murder of George Floyd.
“I know people doing 15 years for nothing, for victimless crimes of drug possession,” said Jones, referring to the minimum time Chauvin is likely to serve in the case. “Very disappointing.”
Jones pointed to aggravating factors the judge had identified in the case, saying they should have resulted in harsher sentence both as a punitive measure for Chauvin, but also as a warning to other law enforcement officials.
“Law enforcement across the country should look at something like this and say, look, you can’t do this type of stuff, you’re never going to come back home,” Jones said. “It’s disappointing.”
Watch more:
Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison in the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Prosecutors had asked for a 30 year sentence, and Chauvin’s attorney asked for probation and time served. Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Technically, Chauvin faced up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder and up to 10 years for manslaughter.
However, Chauvin has no prior criminal record. State guidelines say that for such a person, the presumptive sentence for both second-degree and third-degree murder is 12 1/2 years. The judge was given discretion to hand down a sentence between 10 years and eight months and 15 years for each.
Second-degree manslaughter carries a presumptive sentence of four years for someone with no record, according to the guidelines. The judge’s discretion ranged from three years and five months to four years and eight months.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill expressed his condolences for the family of George Floyd moments before handing down his sentence for Derek Chauvin.
He said the sentence was “not based on emotion or sympathy.”
WATCH:
The court is now in a 15-minute recess following remarks by George Floyd’s family, former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin and his mother.
Derek Chauvin spoke briefly in court today prior to his sentencing in Minneapolis.
It was not immediately clear what additional information Chauvin was referencing.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill is expected to hand down Chauvin’s sentence after a short recess.
Reporting from CNN’s Aaron Cooper contributed to this post.
WATCH:
Derek Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, reflected on the trial today in court prior to the sentencing, saying he hopes the result of the case “brings forth principled debate and civil public discourse and ultimately leaves a positive effect on the city of Minneapolis.”
Nelson added: “In the end, it’s my sincere hope when this proverbial dust settles, the community impact brings forth principled debate and civil public discourse and ultimately leaves a positive effect on the city of Minneapolis, city of Minnesota and the United States.”
Carolyn Pawlenty, the mother of Derek Chauvin, said her son is “a good man” and someone who “always dedicated his life and time to the police department.”
“Even on his days off, he would call to see if they needed help,” she said.
Chauvin, 45, was convicted in April on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for his role in George Floyd’s death.
Pawlenty added: “My son’s identity has also been reduced to that as a racist. I want this court to know that none of these things are true, and that my son is a good man.”
Chauvin’s mother went on to say that while she hasn’t spoken publicly, she never stopped supporting her son, and told the court she believes a lengthy sentence will “not serve Derek well.”
“I’ve always supported him 100% and always will. Derek has played over and over in his head the events of that day. I’ve seen the toll it has taken on him. I believe a lengthy sentence will not serve Derek well,” she told the court.
“When you sentence my son, you will also be sentencing me. I will not be able to see Derek, talk to him on the phone or give him our special hug. Plus the fact that when he is released, his father and I most likely will not be here,” she continued.
Directing her comments to Chauvin she said, “I want you to know I’ve always believed in your innocence, and I will never waiver from that.”
Chauvin’s sentencing hearing for the killing of George Floyd last year has started in Minneapolis, with the former police officer facing a potentially lengthy prison stay.
The guilty verdict on all three charges against Chauvin came nearly a year after he impassively kneeled on the neck and back of Floyd, handcuffed and lying prone on the street, for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.
Under the officer’s knees, Floyd gasped for air, repeatedly exclaimed “I can’t breathe” and ultimately went silent as a group of horrified bystanders looked on.
WATCH:
Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank, speaking in court at Derek Chauvin’s sentencing, argued that Chauvin abused the power he had as a police officer on the day he killed George Floyd.
Frank said that officers who take people into custody are taking responsibility for their care — and Chauvin disregarded care the day Floyd died.
“Mr. Chauvin abused his position of trust and authority as a police officer by doing just that — just disregarding all of his training,” he added.
