Ex-Rookie Cop Sentenced To 3 Years In George Floyd's Death

ST. PAUL, MN — Former Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for his role in George Floyd's May 2020 death.

In February, Kueng and two other former officers — Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — were found guilty of depriving Floyd of medical care while former officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

Kueng's sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson, is below the presumptive federal guidelines that call for between 4¼ to 5¼ years.

Meanwhile, Thao is scheduled to receive his sentence Wednesday as well. Lane was sentenced last week to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Chauvin was also charged in federal court, but he pleaded guilty in December and did not have to stand trial. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison earlier this month. That sentence will run concurrently with the more than 22 years he was sentenced for his 2021 state murder conviction in Floyd's death.

The three-count indictment claimed that all four officers' actions resulted in Floyd's death. Read the specific charges below:

Count one

Count one specifically notes that Chauvin held his left knee on Floyd's neck — and his right knee on Floyd's back and arm — while Floyd was handcuffed and not resisting. Chauvin kept his knees on Floyd's body even after he became unresponsive, the count stated.

The indictment claims that Chauvin's actions violated Floyd's constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.

Count two

Count two of the indictment claims Thao and Kueng "willfully failed to intervene to stop Chauvin's use of unreasonable force."

Count three

Count three of the indictment claims that all four ex-officers watched Floyd lying on the ground "in clear need of medical care and willfully failed to aid him."

All four former offices "willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes an arrestee's right to be free from a police officer's deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs," the indictment stated

State trial looms

Thao and Kueng face still face charges in state court of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death.

Lane pleaded guilty to the same charges in May.

The state trial — which will be the final criminal trial over Floyd's death — is scheduled for January in Minneapolis.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.