Derek Chauvin Changes His NOT Guilty Plea To GUILTY, Admits Fault

Former Minneapolis police officer and convicted murderer Derek Chauvin has indeed pleaded guilty.

On Monday, The Blast reported that Chauvin was expected to change his not guilty plea to a guilty plea in a hearing on Wednesday in a federal civil case concerning his violation of George Floyd’s rights.

These charges included aiding and abetting deprivation of rights under color of law, and deprivation of rights under color of law.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Chauvin changed his not guilty plea to guilty and admitted fault in violating Floyd’s civil rights. He was previously sentenced to face 22 and a half years in prison for second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter after suffocating Floyd for several minutes with his knee during an arrest, despite Floyd telling him that he was unable to breathe.

Although Chauvin has not yet been sentenced, prosecutors are asking for a 25-year sentence to be served at the same time as his 22 and a half-year sentence. According to Minnesota law, inmates with good behavior who have served at least two-thirds of their prison sentence are eligible for parole. There is no option for parole when serving a federal sentence.

Legal analysts surmise that Chauvin pled guilty in order to avoid facing a potential sentence of life behind bars without the possibility of parole. A professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Mark Osler, previously theorized that if Chauvin had pled guilty, he would be facing 27 to 33 years in prison, although he felt that he would be sentenced to the “lower-end” of that range. The 25-year sentence the prosecution is seeking is in the lower range of what had been initially expected.

Chauvin is also expected to pay restitution; however, that amount has yet to be determined.

Chauvin was not the only officer named in the federal civil case. Three former officers – Thomas Lane, J. Keung, and Tou Thao, are also named in the federal civil suit. They are also facing state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.

They have all entered not guilty pleas, although it is currently unclear whether they plan to change their plea now that Chauvin has pleaded guilty. They have previously tried to have their federal cases separated from Chauvin, citing concerns of prejudice due to Chauvin’s former murder conviction, but they were unsuccessful.

Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, is currently involved in another highly publicized trial: the shooting of Daunte Wright by former police officer Kim Potter. Potter alleges that she meant to only tase Wright during an arrest but grabbed her firearm instead, fatally shooting Wright.