AUGUST 7, 2023, UPDATE:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, has been sentenced to 4 years and 9 months, even as he denied wrongdoing. Thao testified that he served as a “human traffic cone” when holding back concerned bystanders as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Judge Peter Cahill found Thao guilty in May of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Monday’s (Aug. 7, 2023) sentence will run concurrently with a 3 1/2-year sentence on a federal civil rights conviction.
AUGUST 7, 2023:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The last former Minneapolis police officer to face sentencing in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd will learn Monday (Aug. 7, 2023) whether he will spend additional time in prison.
Tou Thao has testified he merely served as a “human traffic cone” when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020.
A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd’s killing touched off protests worldwide and forced a national reckoning of police brutality and racism.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill found Thao guilty in May of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In his 177-page ruling, Cahill said Thao’s actions separated Chauvin and two other former officers from the crowd, including a an emergency medical technician, allowing his colleagues to continue restraining Floyd and preventing bystanders from providing medical aid.
“There is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Thao’s actions were objectively unreasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer, when viewed under the totality of the circumstances,” Cahill wrote.
He concluded: “Thao’s actions were even more unreasonable in light of the fact that he was under a duty to intervene to stop the other officers’ excessive use of force and was trained to render medical aid.”
Thao rejected a plea bargain on the state charge, saying “it would be lying” to plead guilty when he didn’t think he was in the wrong. He instead agreed to let Cahill decide the case based on evidence from Chauvin’s 2021 murder trial and the federal civil rights trial in 2022 of Thao and former Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander.
That trial in federal court ended in convictions for all three. Chauvin pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges instead of going to trial a second time, while Lane and Kueng pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Minnesota guidelines recommend a four-year sentence on the manslaughter count, which Thao would serve at the same time as his 3 1/2-year sentence for his federal civil rights conviction, which an appeals court upheld on Friday. But Cahill has some latitude and could hand down a sentence from 41 to 57 months.
Lane and Kueng received 3 and 3 1/2-year state sentences respectively, which they are serving concurrently with their federal sentences of 2 1/2 years and 3 years. Thao is Hmong American, while Kueng is Black and Lane is white.
Minnesota inmates generally serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and one-third on parole. There is no parole in the federal system but inmates can shave time off their sentences with good behavior.
MAY 2, 2023:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge has found (May 1, 2023) a former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Tou Thao was last of the four former officers facing judgement in Floyd’s killing. He rejected a plea agreement last summer. Instead of going to trial, he let Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill decide the case based on written filings by each side and stipulated evidence presented in previous cases. Thao already had been convicted in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
FEBRUARY 1, 2023:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A defense attorney says a former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd is innocent of criminal wrongdoing and should be acquitted. But prosecutors argue Tou Thao “acted without courage and displayed no compassion” even though he could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away. Tuesday (Jan. 31, 2023) was the deadline for both sides to file final written arguments in the case of Thao, the last of the four former officers facing judgement in Floyd’s murder. Judge Peter Cahill has 90 days to rule on whether Thao is guilty on state charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
DECEMBER 11, 2022:
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer who held down George Floyd’s back as one of his colleagues kneeled on the Black man’s neck has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October 2022 to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. He is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time. Kueng appeared at his sentencing via a video feed from a federal prison in Ohio. When given the chance to address the court, he declined.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back as one of his colleagues pinned the Black man’s neck to the pavement is being sentenced on a state count. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. At the time of his guilty plea, he agreed to a sentence of 3 1/2 years in prison. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence are expected to be served at the same time. Kueng will appear at his sentencing via video feed from a federal prison in Ohio. He has the right to make a statement at the hearing, but it’s not known if he will.
Comments