After being convicted in February, former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao received their sentencing on Wednesday for violating the rights of George Floyd and failing to stop their colleague Derek Chauvin.
Kueng was first to be sentenced, receiving a three year prison sentence for both charges to be served concurrently from Judge Paul A. Magnuson. His sentence will also be followed by two years of supervised release.
An hour after Kueng received his sentence of 36 months, Thao received a 3 1/2 year prison sentence for both charges to also run concurrently.
While Kueng declined to speak before receiving his sentence, Thao opted to share a statement, discussing his Christian faith. Thao shared that he picked up a Bible in 2020 after being placed in a jail cell and has been a Christian ever since. During his statement he spent most of his time reciting Bible verses before the courtroom.
The third cop who was present during Floyd's death, Thomas Lane, was sentenced last week, receiving 2.5 years from Magnuson because the judge felt he had a "minimal role" in the incident. Lane had also only been a cop for two weeks at the time.
Twin Cities defense attorney Jack Rice shared with News Talk 830 WCCO that he couldn't see Thao or Kueng receiving the same sentence as Lane.
"You gotta remember that Thao and Kueng were charged and convicted of an additional count," Rice said.
Chauvin, the former officer found guilty of murder in Floyd's death, pleaded guilty in his federal trial to violating Floyd's civil rights and an unrelated civil rights violation. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison to be served concurrently with his 22.5-year sentence.
But when it comes to Kueng and Thao, Magnuson wrote in his filing last week that "each made a tragic misdiagnosis in their assessment" of Floyd.
The judge continued in his filing, saying that "evidence showed that Kueng genuinely thought that Mr. Floyd was suffering from excited delirium with a drug overdose, and Thao genuinely believed that the officers were dealing with a drug overdose with possible excited delirium."
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