Published 12:44 IST, August 30th 2020
George Floyd's death: Ex-Minneapolis police officer pleads to dismiss murder charges
Prosecutors demanded, “stricter sentence” in case Chauvin and the other three officers accused were proven guilty in George Floy's alleged killing case.
Former Minneapolis police officer accused in the death of the African American man George Floyd on August 29 pleaded the judge to dismiss murder charges against him, according to a local report that cited court papers. Derek Chauvin's attorney said that there was “no probable cause” to uphold charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter against the defendant. However, the prosecutors demanded, “stricter sentence” than recommended in the state guidelines in case Chauvin and the other three officers accused were proven guilty. The court document reportedly has charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter against the other three officers involved in the alleged crime.
The attorney for a fired Minneapolis officer had also wanted the local prosecutor dropped from the case, an AP report confirmed. Former Officer J. Kueng’s attorney filed a motion last week accused Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, country’s top prosecutor of “compromised ethics” and “inability to impartially prosecute” the case. Kueng, one of the four accused officers had handcuffed Floyd who afterward succumbed to Chauvin’s knee chokehold for nearly eight minutes. Two other officers, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, present at the scene are charged with aiding and abetting the alleged murder. Appealing for an "upward sentencing departure” prosecutors filed a notice at the court, citing unidentified reasons that go beyond the "sentencing guidelines grid”, several reports claimed. The filing lists sentence protocol in Minnesota that factors in the criminal history of the convicted and his codefendants with allegations of “abusing authority”. However, the state argues that the case has aggravated circumstances due to Floyd being handcuffed by officer Chauvin that particularly made the dead victim vulnerable.
Thao’s attorney filed a motion
Earlier, last week, officer Tou Thao’s attorney filed a motion with district judge Peter Cahill in Hennepin County court to dismiss charges against his defendant, according to a separate report. However, prosecutors urged the Minnesota judge not to drop charges accusing officer Thao of pushing back eyewitnesses and the crowd of onlookers prohibiting the rightful intervention to stop the alleged crime. “In the first five minutes Floyd was on the ground, he told the officers at least 20 times that he could not breathe. He told them nearly 10 times that he was dying. And then he fell silent,” prosecutors wrote in the motion, as per AP news agency report.
The document further read, “As Floyd lost consciousness, a crowd of bystanders pleaded with Thao. They told him that the officers were killing Floyd. They screamed that Floyd had stopped moving. They alerted Thao that Floyd had stopped breathing. And they begged Thao almost 30 times to take Floyd’s pulse,” the filing continued. ”But instead of intervening on Floyd’s behalf, Thao continued to push the crowd of bystanders back to the sidewalk, allowing the other officers to continue to pin Floyd to the ground — with Chauvin on Floyd’s neck, Kueng on Floyd’s back, and Lane on Floyd’s legs.” Prosecutors also wanted to try the four together in the hearing scheduled for March 8.
(Image Credit: AP)
Updated 12:44 IST, August 30th 2020