Photos: Twitter
Three former Minneapolis police officers who aided and abetted Derek Chauvin in the brutal knee-lynch murder of George Floyd were convicted Thursday on all charges for their roles in the May, 25, 2020 killing.
J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao were all convicted of depriving Floyd, 46, of his civil rights while acting under government authority. Thao and Kueng were also charged with not intervening to stop the criminal actions of Chauvin.
The three officers were convicted by an all-white jury made up of eight women and four men.
Kueng and Lane held George Floyd’s body down while Derek Chauvin kept his knee in Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Kueng and Lane were rookie officers being trained by Chauvin.
The disgraced Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter last year and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Last December, Chauvin also plead guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights.
According to the Justice Department, violating a person’s civil rights “is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury.”
The legal troubles are not over for these three officers. A state trial is still pending in June for aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
