Former Minneapolis police officer gets prison sentence in state’s case for Floyd murder
A former Minneapolis police officer will spend just under five years behind bars for one count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Tou Thao was sentenced Monday morning to 57 months in prison for his role in the killing of George Floyd, becoming the fourth and final ex-officer to be sentenced in the state’s Floyd cases. All four former officers have already been sentenced in federal court, too.
Thao’s sentence will run concurrently with his three-and-a-half-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
He was found guilty in May of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter after he decided to forgo a jury trial. That verdict came almost three full years after Floyd’s killing on May 25, 2020.
RELATED: Appellate court upholds Tou Thao’s federal conviction
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued the following statement Monday:
“I respect the sentence Judge Cahill imposed today. Even though I am disappointed Thao expressed no remorse today and accepted no responsibility for his actions, his sentence is one more measure of accountability for the Floyd family and every community that suffered from Floyd’s murder. It shows once again that no one is above the law and no one is beneath it.”
Meanwhile, former officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting manslaughter last year. Lane was sentenced to three years in prison but got 31 days of credit for time previously served. He is also serving two and a half years in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights, as well as two years of supervised release.
Kueng was sentenced in December to 3.5 years in state prison and has a 3-year sentence in federal prison.
RELATED: 2 ex-Minneapolis officers sentenced to federal prison; 3.5 years for Thao, 3 years for Kueng
Ex-officer Derek Chauvin is serving 22 1/2 years in prison at the state level for a second-degree murder conviction, and more than 20 years in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
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