NEW YORK, New York– The Haitian American chair of the Brooklyn, New York Democratic Party has expressed disappointment with the length of sentence handed down on a white police officer convicted for killing a Black man in Minneapolis by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes, suffocating him.
Rodneyse BichotteJudge Peter A. Cahill of Hennepin County District Court in Minnesota on Friday, sentenced Derek Chauvin, 45, to 22 and a half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, 46.
Today Derek Chauvin received a 22½ year sentence for murdering George Floyd. This is not enough,” New York State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Friday.
“Chauvin will be able to resume his life after his sentence ends, but Floyd never will,” added Bichotte Hermelyn, representative for the primarily Caribbean 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.
“It is also a reminder of the deep inequity in our criminal justice system, where people of color regularly receive longer sentences for far less egregious crimes.
“We will never forget that Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds,” she continued. “This sentence does not do enough to acknowledge that. I pray for peace for Floyd’s family.”
According to Minnesota law, Chauvin will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence, or 15 years.
He will be eligible for supervised release for the remaining seven and a half years.
In sentencing Chauvin, Judge Cahill said: “What the case is or what the sentence is not based on is emotion or sympathy.
“But, at the same time, I want to acknowledge the deep and tremendous pain that all the families are feeling, especially the Floyd family,” he said. “You have our sympathies. And I acknowledge and hear the pain that you are feeling.
In April, Chauvin was convicted on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for his role in Floyd’s death.
He faces other legal matters as well. According to court documents filed in US federal court in Minnesota, a federal grand jury has indicted all four former officers in connection with Floyd’s death, stating that they violated Floyd’s constitutional rights. They are expected to be arraigned in September.
In addition, the US Department of Justice said in a statement that Chauvin has been charged in a separate indictment in a case in which he used unreasonable force on a Minneapolis 14-year-old in September 2017. He will be arraigned in September in that case, the Justice Department said.
