Black Lives Matters: Derek Chauvin To Plead Guilty For Violating George Floyd's Civil Rights

 Derek Chauvin To Plead Guilty For Violating George Floyd’s Civil Rights

By Oluwatoyin Mathnuel Publisher insightmagonline 

A federal court today set a hearing for Derek Chauvin to change his plea, signaling that the former police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd intended to plead guilty to also depriving Mr. Floyd of his civil rights.

Chauvin, who is white, was convicted in April of Minnesota state charges of murder and manslaughter at a trial for Floyd’s killing.

He was sentenced in July to 22-and-a-half years in prison.

The killing of Mr. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, by Mr. Chauvin, a white officer, led to the largest protest movement in a generation. The federal indictment was a rare instance of the Justice Department pursuing a criminal case against a police officer, particularly after Mr. Chauvin had already been convicted of state crimes.

The two federal charges against Mr. Chauvin allege that he violated Mr. Floyd’s rights by using unreasonable force and by acting with “deliberate indifference” when he pinned Mr. Floyd to the ground while he cried for help and told officers he could not breathe.

Three other former police officers at the scene of Mr. Floyd’s arrest were also charged by the Justice Department.

The change of plea hearing in Mr. Chauvin’s case was scheduled for Wednesday morning in a federal courthouse in St. Paul, Minn. Mr. Chauvin and the three other officers had pleaded not guilty in September. His lawyer did not return emails seeking comment, and the Justice Department declined to comment.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the change of plea hearing, but many legal experts have expected Mr. Chauvin to eventually plead guilty to the federal charges.

The case against him is strong, they said, and a plea deal would most likely bring a lighter sentence than a conviction after a trial, which could send him to prison for life. Pleading guilty could also allow him to serve his sentence in a federal prison, which could keep him from crossing paths with inmates in state prison whom he might have helped send there.