On Friday, the attorney general of Minnesota sought a more intense sentence for Derek Chauvin in connection with the killing of George Floyd, charging that the former Minneapolis police officer employed inhuman means as Floyd begged for his life.
Chauvin, who is due to be sentenced in June on second-degree murder and other offences, violated his authority as a police officer in broad daylight and as Floyd was bound and screaming for his mother, state Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a legal brief lodged in Hennepin County District Court in Minnesota.
He said that Floyd was dealt with immense brutality. The defendant did not stop despite Mr. Floyd exclaiming 27 times that he couldn’t breathe, and despite Mr. Floyd declared that Defendant’s acts were murdering him. Ellison said. Chauvin, he continued, remained in place as Floyd cried out for his mother, ceased speaking, and passed out.
Prosecutors have claimed that Chauvin’s acts inflicted unnecessary harm and psychological trauma on Floyd, as well as on civilian spectators who would remain traumatized by what they witnessed.
According to the court filing, four individuals in the crowd who saw Floyd’s death were minors.
The request stated that the defendant did not only cause physical harm in this manner. He caused Mr. Floyd psychiatric anguish in the last days of his life, rendering him powerless as he drained the remaining traces of life from Mr. Floyd’s body.
Eric Nelson, the defence counsel, however, opposes a harsher penalty, claiming that the prosecutor had refused to establish that such aggravating circumstances, among others, occurred on the day Chauvin detained Floyd.
Additionally, Nelson stated that Floyd was not handled cruelly, stating that there is no proof that Chauvin’s attack involved gratuitous suffering, which is not often connected with second-degree murder.
The defence attorney further stated that Mr. Floyd was assaulted in a matter of seconds, without any intimidation or taunting, such as pressing a pistol to his head and pushing the trigger.
Chauvin, a white male cop, was accused last week of second-degree accidental murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree homicide for keeping his knee on Flyod’s neck for 91/2 minutes as the Black man complained of difficulty breathing and went motionless.
