SEPTEMBER 21, 2022, UPDATE:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd has been sentenced to three years. Thomas Lane is already serving a 2 1/2-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. Prosecutors and Lane’s attorneys previously agreed to a recommended state sentence of three years, and prosecutors agreed to allow him to serve that penalty at the same time as his federal sentence, and in a federal prison. Lane appeared at his hearing Wednesday (Sept. 21, 2022) via video from the low-security federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado. The killing, captured on widely viewed bystander video, sparked protests worldwide as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. Thomas Lane is already serving a 2 1/2-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. When it comes to the state’s case, prosecutors and Lane’s attorneys agreed to a recommended sentence of three years, and prosecutors agreed to allow him to serve that penalty at the same time as his federal sentence, and in a federal prison. Lane is expected to appear at his sentencing remotely from a federal prison in Colorado.
JULY 27, 2022 UPDATE:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The last two former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted of violating George Floyd’s civil rights have been sentenced in federal court. J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced Wednesday (July 27, 2022) to three years and Tou Thao got a 3 1/2-year sentence. They were convicted in February of two counts of violating Floyd’s civil rights. The jury found they deprived the 46-year-old Black man of medical care and failed to stop Derek Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes. Chauvin and another former officer, Thomas Lane, have already been sentenced on federal charges.
JULY 27, 2022:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The last two former Minneapolis police officers who have yet to be sentenced for violating George Floyd’s civil rights are scheduled to learn their penalties Wednesday (July 27, 2022). Federal prosecutors have requested that the judge sentence J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao to less time than Derek Chauvin but more than Thomas lane. Chauvin got 21 years, while Lane who got 2 1/2. The defense got a victory last week when the judge issued a ruling that will result in a substantially lower sentence than the men might have otherwise faced. Once their sentences are known, it could renew discussions of a plea deal in state court, where the men are charged with aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter.
JUNE 22, 2022:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge has rescheduled the state trial for two former Minneapolis police officers in George Floyd’s killing to Oct. 24, 2022, to resolve dueling requests for a new trial date. The state had sought to start as soon as this summer while a defense lawyer asked to delay it to next spring. Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in the 2020 killing. Judge Peter Cahill earlier this month postponed their trial until January, saying it would improve prospects for a fair trial. He settled on October during a hearing Tuesday (June 21, 2022). The killing of Floyd, who was Black, sparked protests in Minneapolis that spread worldwide in a reckoning over police brutality and discrimination involving people of color.
JUNE 6, 2022:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The judge overseeing the remaining case of two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing has ordered that the trial be delayed until January to improve prospects for a fair trial. Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng had been due to go on trial next Monday (June 13, 2022) on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in the May 2020 death of Floyd. But Judge Peter Cahill on Monday delayed the trial until Jan. 5, 2023. Cahill denied a motion for a change of venue. But he said two recent connected cases and the publicity over them have created “a reasonable likelihood of an unfair trial” if it were to begin next week.
APRIL 12, 2022:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors have revealed that they offered plea deals to three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd, but say the defendants rejected them. Judge Peter Cahill held a Monday evening (April 11, 2022) hearing mostly to consider whether he has the authority to allow live video coverage of the upcoming trial set for former Officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. Lead prosecutor Matthew Frank did not disclose details of the plea offers in open court. But he says they were identical and were made in March after a jury convicted the three in a separate trial in February on federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd’s death.
APRIL 11, 2022:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota judge will hear arguments Monday on whether to allow live video coverage of the upcoming trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged in the murder of George Floyd. Judge James Cahill allowed it for ex-Officer Derek Chauvin’s trial last year. He made an exception to Minnesota’s normal rules, citing the need to balance safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic against a public trial. Now Cahill must decide whether to allow the same sort of access for the trial set to begin in June 2022 for three other former officers, who are charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
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