Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Former US police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 270 months, or 22.5 years in prison, for the murder of African American George Floyd last year in Minneapolis, Minnesota state.
According to Minnesota Public Radio Derek Chauvin is the first white officer in Minnesota to face prison time for the killing of a Black man. Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill stated that they need to recognise the pain of the Floyd family.
Further, the judge noted that the sentence was not based on emotion or sympathy. Members of Floyd’s family were present in the courtroom for the hearing.
Chauvin, who was found guilty of murdering Floyd by a jury in April stated that he declined to give a formal statement in court due to additional legal matters but expressed his condolences to the Floyd family.
In his earlier ruling, Cahill concluded that Chauvin abused his position of trust and authority as a police officer and displayed particular cruelty when he knelt on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes during his arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter as well as third-degree murder in April.
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