Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his back and neck for more than nine straight minutes, filed a pre-sentencing motion with court Wednesday seeking a reduction in the length of his as-yet unannounced sentence because, he claims, he is a “product of a ‘broken’ system.”

In the motion to the Fourth District Court for Minnesota, Chauvin argues that the court should either impose a less severe penalty or apply a shorter prison sentence because he was never convicted of a bad act before and, gosh darn it, he just a good man caught in a bad system.

“Mr. Chauvin asks the Court to look beyond its findings, to his background, his lack of criminal history, his amenability to probation, to the unusual facts of this case, and to his being a product of a ‘broken’ system,” the filing pleads. 

Convicted of second and third degree murder and second degree manslaughter, Chauvin may find his rationale for leniency falling on deaf ears.  While he cites “unusual facts of this case,” his filing doesn’t mention that many of those “unusual facts” were caused by Chauvin’s own reckless and wanton actions.

Nor does Chauvin’s brief mention that multiple police officers from Minneapolis and law enforcement experts from elsewhere testified that Chauvin violated the rules of the “system” by kneeling on Floyd’s neck and not providing medical assistance in a timely manner.

Chauvin also fails to mention the 18 misconduct complaints filed against him by citizens of Minneapolis, which were reviewed by an officer-friendly internal board and his superior officers.

Chauvin will be sentenced on June 25th and faces up to 40 years in prison.