Tou Thao, who held back anxious bystanders as Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, got 3 1/2 years. J. Alexander Kueng, who nailed Floyd’s back, got three. And Thomas Lane, who held Floyd’s legs and asked twice to roll Black onto his side, got 2 1/2. For some Floyd family members and activists, the sentences were too light — and a bitter reminder of a justice system they say doesn’t treat all people equally. “Once again, our justice system has favored people who should be incarcerated forever,” Floyd’s uncle, Selwyn Jones, said Thursday. Police officers, he said, “contributed to the most brutal, heinous killing in most of our lifetimes.” Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe and eventually grew. The killing, recorded by bystanders, sparked protests around the world and a reckoning with racial injustice in policing. Chauvin, who pleaded guilty to a federal charge in which he admitted he willfully deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, was sentenced to 21 years for that and an unrelated case involving a 14-year-old boy. Lane, Thao and Kueng were all convicted of denying Floyd medical care. Kueng and Thao were also convicted of a second count of failure to intervene. When sentencing in cases involving multiple defendants, judges must consider each defendant’s level of culpability and impose sentences that are proportionate. Legal experts who spoke to The Associated Press did not expect any of them to be punished as much as Chauvin. Mark Osler, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and a former federal prosecutor, called the sentences for the three “groundbreaking,” saying it’s rare for officers who don’t directly commit murder to be held accountable. Paris Stevens, Floyd’s cousin and co-chair of the George Floyd World Memorial, said she didn’t think Lane, Kueng and Tao should have received the same penalty as Chauvin — but the sentences given to them were too low. He said the officers should be punished more harshly because of the power they wield and said the three men could have helped Floyd but didn’t. “They stood by and kind of watched,” he said. Stevens saw favoritism in Magnuson’s proposals. “I think all officers are favored in court. Because historically that’s the way it’s played,” he said. At their sentencing hearings, Magnuson said Lane, who is white, and Kueng, who is black, were rookies. He called Thao, who is Hmong American, “a good police officer, father and husband.” While he said the officers were guilty of violating Floyd’s rights, Magnuson also cited several letters of support each officer received. And during Chauvin’s sentencing, Magnuson appeared to suggest that Chauvin bore the brunt of the blame in the case, telling him: “You absolutely destroyed the lives of three young officers by taking command of the scene.” Toshira Garroway, an activist who attended Wednesday’s sentencing hearings in support of Floyd’s girlfriend, took exception to Magnuson’s assessment of Thao as a “good cop, father and husband.” “That was unrelated to what he did on May 25, 2020,” Garroway said. Ayesha Bell Hardaway, who directs the Social Justice Law Center at Case Western Reserve University, said the judge “seemed to have really lost track of what happened during those 9 minutes and 30 seconds” and what she called ” catastrophic’ murder. He said Floyd’s killing sparked widespread awareness of the harm that excessive force and tactics can have, but he worried the sentences would undermine the momentum of police reform. “When someone dies and we’re only talking about the possibility of two years in prison, I think there’s a strong concern, a valid concern, that that takes away the incentive for the police to be more careful about how they choose to use force against people on the street,” he said. Hardaway. Osler said any jail time for an officer would likely make other officers think twice about refusing to intervene. “We should hope that it will have the impact of changing behavior and prompting them to intervene when a life can be saved,” he said. Angela Harrelson, an aunt of Floyd, said the judge showed favoritism by allowing the three men to remain free pending sentencing — though that is often done in federal cases. However, she celebrated her verdicts as progress towards holding police accountable for their actions. “There are many triumphs that have been made in promotion. We’re on the right track and the officers are being held accountable,” Harrelson said. “For blacks and browns, we’re dismantling the system. It’s peeling off before our eyes.” In separate proceedings in state court, Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison, to run concurrently with his federal sentence. Lane pleaded guilty in state court to one count of accessory to second-degree murder and awaits sentencing there. Kueng and Thao face trial on October 24 on charges of aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter.
Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press/Report for America reporter Trisha Ahmed contributed from Minneapolis.
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