After his murder conviction, Derek Chauvin now faces a federal court trial. There he admits to be guilty of the death of the African American, on whose neck he had pressed his knee for nine minutes.
White ex-police officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to separate federal judicial proceedings following his conviction for the killing of African American George Floyd. Chauvin admitted at a hearing in Minnesota on Wednesday that he had deliberately deprived Floyd of his constitutional rights, US media reported from the courtroom.
It is Chauvin’s first admission of guilt in the case; even in the proceedings before the Federal Supreme Court, he did not initially plead guilty. With the U-turn, he has now averted another lengthy procedure, but is likely to have increased the time he has to spend behind bars.
Floyd was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis on May 25 last year. Videos of passers-by documented how the police pushed the unarmed man to the ground. Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes, while Floyd kept pleading to let him breathe. Floyd’s death ravaged the United States and sparked a wave of demonstrations against racism and police violence – the largest civil rights protests in the United States in decades.
Last April, a jury in a Minnesota state court found chauvin guilty of all charges; the most serious was second degree murder without intent. Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison.
However, charges had also been brought against the ex-police officer in a federal court. The US Department of Justice stated at the time that the accused was accused of deliberately depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights, namely the right not to be subjected to disproportionate violence by a police officer.