Prosecutors on Friday requested the Minneapolis decide overseeing the case in opposition to Derek Chauvin to contemplate a number of aggravating circumstances when he sentences the previous police officer in June for the homicide of George Floyd.
State of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and lead prosecutor Matthew Frank mentioned in a memorandum to District Court Judge Peter Cahill that Chauvin deserves a sentence stiffer than the state pointers dictate as a result of he held a place of authority who handled Floyd, a weak sufferer, with cruelty.
The “defendant’s actions inflicted gratuitous pain, and caused psychological distress to Mr. Floyd and to the bystanders,” the prosecutors wrote, including that Chauvin made “no attempt” to provide Floyd medical consideration.
Chauvin’s lawyer Eric Nelson was not instantly obtainable for remark.
In the confrontation captured on video, Chauvin, a white veteran police officer, pushed his knee into the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, on May 25, 2020. Chauvin and three fellow officers have been trying to arrest Floyd, accused of utilizing a pretend $20 invoice to purchase cigarettes. Floyd’s dying led to protests within the United States and overseas about extreme use of power by police in opposition to individuals of shade.
On April 20, a jury of 12 discovered Chauvin responsible of second diploma homicide, third diploma homicide and manslaughter within the killing of Floyd, a milestone conviction within the fraught racial historical past of the United States and a rebuke of regulation enforcement’s remedy of Black Americans.
When he’s sentenced on June 16, Chauvin faces a mixed 75 years in jail, based mostly on the state’s sentencing pointers. He might obtain extra time in jail if Cahill agrees with the prosecutors authorized arguments.
Prosecutors additionally argued that Cahill ought to remember that Chauvin dedicated crimes with a gaggle of three or extra individuals and within the presence of 4 youngsters.
“All four were traumatized by defendant’s actions, as their testimony at trial makes clear,” they wrote.
