The former Minneapolis cop convicted of murdering George Floyd when he kneeled on the Black father’s neck for more than nine minutes is scheduled to be sentenced at 2:30 PM EST on Friday at the Hennepin County Government Center, and there is no shortage of estimates about just how much time he will be required to serve. The state has argued in court documents that Chauvin, who a jury convicted on April 20 of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, did not commit a “typical” version of each offense and therefore, should receive a lengthier sentence. 

Chauvin’s defense attorney, Eric Nelson, contended in a motion that his 45-year-old client’s “life prospects” due to his age “significantly increase the likelihood of him becoming a target in prison.” “Mr. Chauvin still has the ability to positively impact his family and his community,” the attorney added. “Thus, Mr. Chauvin’s age is a substantial and compelling factor that supports a downward dispositional departure in sentencing.”

They’re fancy words that amount to less time in prison than the statutory maximum term of 40 years allows, being that Chauvin is being charged on the heftier offense of second-degree murder. The prosecution pushed for an upward departure from sentencing guidelines, and Judge Peter Cahill agreed with four of five of its claims that there were “aggravated sentencing factors” to qualify a longer sentence for the ex-cop in a pre-sentencing court document filed last month. Cahill found that Chauvin abused a position of trust and authority; was particularly cruel; committed an act of crime in the presence of children; and committed a crime as part of a group of at least three other people.

The one aggravating factor Cahill parted with the prosecution on was that Floyd was"particularly vulnerable” in comparison with other murder victims. Cahill determined Floyd was not. “Although George Floyd was handcuffed, he had still been able to resist arrest and to prevent three police officers from seating him in a squad car before he was placed in the prone position, so that, by itself, did not create a particular vulnerability,” Cahill wrote. 

Multiple attorneys told the Star Tribune it’s unlikely that Cahill will sentence Chauvin to 40 years in prison. Defense attorney Joe Friedberg told the newspaper he doesn’t expect Cahill to go beyond 24 or 25 years, and Fred Fink, a former prosecutor in Washington and Wisconsin for four decades, said he’s taken 30 to 40 second-degree murder cases and doesn’t remember anyone getting a maximum prison sentence.

“Maximum sentences are there to frighten defendants on some theory of deterrence,” defense attorney A.L. Brown told the newspaper. “Maximum sentences are made by politicians in St. Paul who want to appear tough on crime, but no one gets the maximum sentence and I don’t expect Mr. Chauvin to get the maximum sentence here.” 

Attorneys who spoke to the Star Tribune mainly predicted Chauvin wouldn’t speak during sentencing considering his attorney’s request for a new trial and an ongoing related federal case. They said sentencing does give judges the opportunity to weigh in on the cases they oversee. “We’re going to learn more about Judge Cahill than we’ll learn about the law,” Brown told the Star Tribune.

Joseph Daly, an emeritus professor of the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said it “might be good” if Chauvin “has the capability” to “let his humanity come out” during sentencing. “But is he capable of coming across in a manner that’s human and somewhat begging for forgiveness and asking for forgiveness and recognizing that he made a terrible, terrible decision?” Daly told the Star Tribune. “I’m not sure anything he says will help him.”

Attorney Jeff Storms, who’s representing Floyd’s family, told Law & Crime Daily full justice for this family doesn’t stop at the conviction. “It stops at a sentence that’s significant and shows that there is a punishment that fits the crime,” Storms said. “You have to remember this is a Black family who for years has watched members of their community be sentenced to very severe sentences for very minimal crimes.

“We’re talking about generations who have grown up through three-strikes laws and things like that. So you can certainly anticipate that you’re going to hear from the family that they want there to be a very strong sentence for Derek Chauvin.”

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