The Murder of George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, George Perry Floyd Jr., 46, died during an arrest in Minneapolis after former police officer Derek Chauvin restrained him for more than nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed on the ground. The death was recorded by bystanders and became the subject of state murder proceedings and separate federal civil-rights prosecutions.

George Floyd and the arrest

Police were called after a store employee reported that Floyd had allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill. During the arrest, officers restrained Floyd on the street. The later criminal cases focused on the force used, the failure to provide medical aid and the conduct of the officers while Floyd was restrained.

The fact that police were responding to a suspected low-level offense did not resolve the legal question at trial. The central issues became whether the force used was lawful and whether the officers' conduct caused or contributed to Floyd's death.

Derek Chauvin's state trial

In April 2021, a Hennepin County jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The state court later sentenced him to 22 and a half years in prison.

The verdict did not make the other three officers murder defendants in the same state trial. Their criminal liability was handled through separate state and federal proceedings, and this file keeps those outcomes distinct.

Appeals of the murder conviction

Chauvin challenged his Minnesota conviction, including arguments about venue, pretrial publicity and jury issues. The Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected his request for a new trial in 2023. The Minnesota Supreme Court declined further review, and on November 20, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his petition.

Those decisions left the Minnesota murder conviction in force.

The federal civil-rights case

Separately, Chauvin pleaded guilty in federal court in December 2021 to willfully depriving Floyd of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable force and to a second civil-rights violation involving a different minor victim. In July 2022, a federal judge sentenced him to 252 months, or 21 years, in prison, with credit for time served.

The Department of Justice stated that Chauvin admitted his conduct toward Floyd resulted in bodily injury and death. That federal guilty plea was a different prosecution from the Minnesota murder case.

The other three former officers

Former officers Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were convicted in federal court of civil-rights violations connected to Floyd's death. The federal jury found failures to intervene or provide medical aid, with the exact counts differing by defendant.

State proceedings also produced different outcomes for those officers. They should not be described as having received Chauvin's murder conviction simply because they were present during the same event.

Why the legal distinctions matter

One incident produced several prosecutions under different bodies of law. Chauvin's state conviction established murder liability under Minnesota law. His federal guilty plea established a separate willful civil-rights violation. The other officers' convictions concerned their own conduct and legal duties.

This file therefore avoids collapsing every defendant into a single label or treating political interpretations of the case as substitutes for the actual judgments.

Timeline

1. May 25, 2020
   George Floyd dies during a Minneapolis arrest

   Bystander video records the restraint and Floyd's deteriorating condition.

2. Apr. 20, 2021
   Chauvin convicted in Minnesota

   A jury finds him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

3. June 25, 2021
   State sentence imposed

   The court sentences Chauvin to 22 and a half years in prison.

4. Dec. 15, 2021
   Federal guilty plea

   Chauvin pleads guilty to federal civil-rights violations involving Floyd and a separate minor victim.

5. Feb. 24, 2022
   Three other former officers convicted federally

   A federal jury finds Thao, Kueng and Lane guilty of civil-rights offenses tied to Floyd's death.

6. July 7, 2022
   Federal sentence for Chauvin

   He receives 252 months in federal prison.

7. Nov. 20, 2023
   U.S. Supreme Court declines state-conviction appeal

   The Minnesota murder conviction remains in force.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Derek Chauvin remains convicted of George Floyd's murder in Minnesota state court and separately pleaded guilty to a federal civil-rights violation resulting in Floyd's death. The other three former officers were separately convicted of federal civil-rights offenses.