Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, plans to change his not guilty plea to federal charges that he violated Floyd’s civil rights, according to a court notice.
via: Revolt
On Monday (Dec. 13), a court filing in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota showed that a hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday (Dec. 15) for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case. According to NBC News, the notice, however, did not say how he plans to modify his plea.
As REVOLT readers may recall, back in May, Chauvin and three other ex-Minneapolis police officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — were indicted by a federal grand jury for willfully violating Floyd’s constitutional rights as they pinned him to the ground as he was unable to breathe. Chauvin is charged with depriving Floyd’s right to be free from “unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer,” as he held his knee on the 46-year-old’s neck for more than nine minutes.
Thao and Kueng were charged for failing to intervene in Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force. Additionally, all four of the ex-cops were charged for failing to render aid to the victim, whose pleas to breathe were ignored. Back in September, all four men pleaded not guilty to the charges.
However, this is not the end of Chauvin’s legal woes. He is also charged with depriving a 14-year-old Black boy of his civil rights during a 2017 incident in which he is accused of holding the boy by the throat and hitting him in the head several times with a flashlight. He also held his knee on the neck and upper back of the young boy — even after he was handcuffed, compliant and lying prone.
Chauvin is currently serving 22 and a half years behind bars after being convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for Floyd’s death.
Keep him locked up.
