Minnesota prosecutors recently requested a 30 year sentence for Derek Chauvin, the man who brutally murdered George Floyd by suffocating him to death. The recommendation was made in a sentencing recommendation filing by prosecutors earlier today. (Another story on National Zero earlier today referenced the Defendant’s motion, which was filed by Chauvin’s lawyers.) The sentencing recommendation mentions Chauvin’s conviction on second and third degree murder charges, along with second degree manslaughter.
The recommendation also cites four aggravating factors justifying the thirty year sentence: “Defendant (i) abused a position of trust and authority; (ii) acted with particular cruelty; (iii) acted in concert with three other individuals who all actively participated in the crime; and (iv) committed the offenses in the presence of children,” and mentions the court’s own findings that Chauvin’s actions represented an “egregious abuse” of his authority as a police officer, and represented a “particularly cruel” act of violence which subjected the victim to prolonged asphyxiation, as justification for assigning a sentence that is “twice the upper end of the presumptive sentencing range.”