Minneapolis: For his part in the murder of George Floyd, Tou Thao, the final ex-officer of the Minneapolis Police Department to be found guilty in state court, received a 4-year, 9-month sentence on Monday without expressing any remorse or admitting guilt.
On May 25, 2020, Thao held back onlookers who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, a white man, knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes as the Black man begged for his life. Thao had previously testified that he was merely acting as a "human traffic cone" at the time.
Floyd's waning cries of "I can't breathe" were captured on video by a bystander. Floyd's death sparked protests around the world and prompted a national discussion about racism and police brutality.
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Thao claimed he never intended to harm anyone that day at his sentencing hearing. Although he spoke extensively about how his 340 days in prison helped him grow as a Christian, he categorically denied being to blame for Floyd's passing. He made rambling comments replete with biblical allusions, drawing comparisons between Jesus and Job's and Job's sufferings and false accusations.
"I did not commit these crimes," Thao claimed. "I have a clean conscience. I won't betray my God, become a mob member for survival, or act like Judas. Judge Peter Cahill of Hennepin County said he was hoping for "more than preaching" from Thao on Monday after finding Thao guilty of second-degree manslaughter in May.
I was hoping for a little more regret after three years of reflection, he said.
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The maximum sentence recommended by state guidelines, where the typical sentence is 48 months, or an even four years, was then imposed by Cahill on Thao: 57 months. The sentence was higher than the 51-month maximum sought by the prosecution and the 41-month maximum sought by Thao's lawyer, Robert Paule.
The 3 1/2-year sentence for Thao's separate conviction on a federal civil rights charge—which was upheld by an appeals court on Friday—will run concurrently with the latter's sentence. Thao will be transferred to a Minnesota state prison to complete the last few months of his sentence with credit for time already served before being sent back to a federal prison to complete the remainder of that sentence.
After the hearing, Paule, who had described Thao as "a good and decent man with a family" in court, said:
During the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge stated that Floyd's last words "reverberated across the globe." "George Floyd narrated his own death over the course of a restraint that lasted for more than 9 long minutes until he lost consciousness, stopped breathing, and his heart stopped beating," she claimed.
She claimed that Thao caused Floyd's demise because he "stood by and allowed it to happen" and prevented others from aiding the dying man, including a Minneapolis firefighter who was a certified emergency medical technician and could have given him CPR.
"He knew better and he was trained to do better," Eldridge said.
The hearing, which lasted a little more than 30 minutes, demonstrated how the court cases resulting from Floyd's murder are coming to an end. Family members of the Floyds were frequently present during earlier proceedings, but none were present for Thao's sentencing. Eldridge informed the court that they wished to mourn privately. The majority of those present in the courtroom were journalists, with the exception of four of Thao's relatives or friends.
Without making any comments to reporters, prosecutors left the courthouse. Cahill found Thao guilty in his 177-page decision, noting that Thao's actions had cut off Chauvin and two other former officers from the crowd, allowed his coworkers to keep Floyd restrained, and prevented onlookers from administering first aid.
"There is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao's actions were objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer, when viewed under the totality of the circumstances," wrote Cahill. He came to the following conclusion: "Thao's actions were even more unreasonable in light of the fact that he was under a duty to intervene to stop the other officers' excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid."
A plea deal on the state charge was rejected by Thao because, in his words, "it would be lying" to admit guilt when he didn't believe he had done anything wrong. Instead, he consented to let Cahill decide the case using the evidence from Chauvin's 2021 murder trial and Thao, former Officers Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng's 2022 federal civil rights trial.
All three defendants were found guilty following that federal court trial. Instead of facing a second trial, Chauvin pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges; however, he still intends to make a remote appeal of his state conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. In response to state charges of encouraging manslaughter, Lane and Kueng entered a plea of guilty.
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In addition to their respective federal sentences of 2 1/2 years and 3 years, Lane and Kueng also received state sentences of 3 and 3 1/2 years, which they are currently serving. Lane is white, Kueng is black, and Thao is an American Hmong.
The typical sentence for an inmate in Minnesota is two thirds prison time and one third parole. In the federal system, there is no such thing as parole, but good behaviour allows inmates to shorten their terms of imprisonment.