(MINNEAPOLIS) — Before former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years for the murder of George Floyd, members of George Floyd’s family gave emotional statements asking for the maximum sentence.
Floyd’s 7-year-old daughter Gianna shared a prerecorded video message at the hearing.
When asked “Do you wish he was still here with us?” she replied, “He is.”
When asked what she would say to her father if she could speak to him right now, Gianna said, “I miss you and I love him.”
George Floyd’s two brothers also provided victim impact statements before the sentence was announced.
Philonise Floyd asked Judge Peter Cahill to give Chauvin the maximum sentence — 40 years — without the possibility for parole.
“My family and I have been given a life sentence. We will never be able to get George back,” he said. “Daddies are a daughter’s first love. He’ll never be able to walk Gianna down the aisle at her wedding, attend those magical moments of her life.”
Terrence Floyd asked Chauvin, “Why?”
“I wanted to know from the man himself, why?” he said. “What were you thinking? What was going through your head when you had your knee on my brother’s neck? When you knew that he posed no threat anymore? He was handcuffed, why you didn’t at least get up?”
Terrence Floyd recounted a long conversation he had with his brother a month before George Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020.
“The last conversation me and my brother had was he wanted to have play dates. He wanted to plan play dates for Gianna and my daughter,” he said. “My daughter is still young, but I still have to explain to her because this is history.”
George Floyd’s nephew, Brandon Williams, called Chauvin’s actions “a malicious display of hate and abuse of power” at the hearing.
“Not only did he kill George, he also displayed a total lack of consideration for human life as he did so,” Williams said. “You saw it. I saw it. Millions of people across the country and the globe witnessed the agent of hate.”
Williams asked the court to “bear with me as I attempt the impossible” and find the right words to say.
“The sudden murder of George has forever traumatized us,” he said. “You may see us cry. But the full extent of our pain and trauma will never be seen with the naked eye. The heartbreak goes far beyond any number of tears we could cry. Words cannot express the pain, anguish and suffering our family and friends have endured.”
Williams also asked for the maximum penalty.
Cahill ultimately sentenced Chauvin to 270 months in prison.
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