Former Minneapolis Police Officer Thomas Lane is serving a 30-month federal prison sentence for violating George Floyd's civil rights. On Wednesday, he reached a plea deal in state court to a charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
The state sentence will be three years, and the judge said he'll serve that currently with the federal sentence.
Twin Cities’ defense attorney Jack Rice, who is not associated with the case, told WCCO Lane is far better off in Federal prison where he will serve out both of his sentences despite the state charges. Rice explains that is safer for someone like Lane.
“Generally, it’s much easier in Federal prison than it is in state prison,” said Rice. “It’s frequently more secure. Every state is different too. So, the Feds are generally better than all the states, some of the states can be really bad. Minnesota is better than some of the states, especially some down south.”
Lane appeared via video conference this morning from federal prison in Colorado.
The two other officers involved in Floyd's killing, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, are scheduled to go on trial on state charges of aiding and abetting in October.
Rice says that he expects the trial to go on as scheduled since it had already been continued (postponed) previously.
“There’s always the possibility it could be continued again,” says Rice. “But it’s been continued quite a bit. They thought, apparently, in state court they had an agreement especially because there were the Federal convictions, that they could run those concurrently just like they did with Lane. But when those were rejected, it seemed they have decided to try those cases, which exposes them to a lot of time they could serve in state prison. Much more time than Thomas Lane actually received.”
Rice says it is a gamble by Thao and Kueng who could conceivable face decades in state prison.
“The idea that they would come back and fight the state charges is interesting. What’s the benefit of not doing your time side-by-side? You won’t feel it and now you’re exposed to so much more.”
The fourth officer involved in the death of George Floyd in May of 2020, Derek Chauvin, is serving a concurrent sentence of 22.5-year sentence on state charges along with a 21-year sentence for the Federal Civil Rights charge.
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