Derek Chauvin Case: Conviction, Sentence, and Appeals

The Derek Chauvin case ended with the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and sentenced to 22.5 years in state prison and 21 years in federal prison, to be served concurrently. Chauvin is now held at a federal facility in Big Spring, Texas, with a projected release date somewhere around 2037 to 2038 depending on good-time credit. His state appeals are exhausted, a long-shot bid to undo his federal guilty plea is pending, and a public campaign urging President Donald Trump to pardon him would not, on its own, free him.

What Happened on May 25, 2020

Minneapolis officers were called to a convenience store after an employee reported that Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, had used a counterfeit $20 bill. Officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng arrived first, handcuffed Floyd, and tried to place him in a squad car. Floyd, who said he was claustrophobic, struggled and fell to the ground.¹

Chauvin arrived, pulled Floyd from the car, and forced him face-down onto the pavement. He then placed his left knee on Floyd’s neck and held it there for more than nine minutes while Floyd remained handcuffed and did not resist. Two other officers restrained Floyd’s lower body. Officer Tou Thao kept bystanders back.²

Floyd told the officers more than 20 times that he could not breathe. Lane twice suggested rolling him onto his side. Chauvin refused. After about six minutes Floyd became unresponsive. Kueng checked his wrist and reported he could not find a pulse, and Chauvin kept his knee in place for more than two additional minutes. None of the four officers, all trained in CPR, gave medical aid.² Floyd was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center about an hour after the encounter began.¹

The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, caused by “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression.”² The encounter was filmed by Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old bystander, and her roughly ten-minute video became the central piece of evidence at trial and the trigger for global protests. Chauvin, who had been with the Minneapolis Police Department for 19 years, was fired the next day.³

The State Murder Conviction

Chauvin’s state trial began in March 2021 in Hennepin County District Court before Judge Peter Cahill. He faced three counts: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.⁴ Prosecutors leaned on the bystander video, body-camera footage, and testimony from police officials and medical experts. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo testified that Chauvin “absolutely” violated department policy, training, ethics, and values.⁵

On April 20, 2021, after a single day of deliberation, the jury found Chauvin guilty on all three counts.⁶

The presumptive Minnesota sentence for the top count was 12.5 years. Judge Cahill found four aggravating factors justifying a longer term: that Chauvin abused his position of authority as a police officer; that he treated Floyd with particular cruelty, killing him slowly while Floyd begged for his life and continuing to kneel on him after Floyd lost consciousness and a pulse; that children were present; and that the crime was committed as a group with three other officers.⁷⁸ In June 2021 he sentenced Chauvin to 22.5 years in state prison.⁹

Before the trial ended, the city of Minneapolis reached a $27 million civil settlement with Floyd’s family, approved unanimously by the City Council on March 12, 2021, and described at the time as one of the largest pretrial civil rights settlements in U.S. history.¹⁰

The Federal Civil Rights Case

In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to two federal counts of willfully depriving individuals of their constitutional rights under 18 U.S.C. § 242. One count concerned Floyd. The second concerned a separate 2017 incident in which Chauvin struck a handcuffed 14-year-old Black boy in the head multiple times with a police flashlight, pinned him by the throat, and then held a knee on the boy’s neck and upper back for more than 15 minutes. The child required stitches.¹¹¹²

On July 7, 2022, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Chauvin to 21 years in federal prison, calling his actions “simply wrong” and “offensive.” The plea agreement had set a range of 20 to 25 years; prosecutors argued for the upper end because the 2017 assault involved separate harm the state case had not addressed. The federal sentence runs concurrently with the state sentence, and Chauvin got credit for seven months already served.¹³ With all available good-time credit, Chauvin was expected to serve between 17 and just over 21 years.¹⁴

The federal plea also had a practical purpose. It kept Chauvin inside the federal prison system, generally considered safer for a former officer than a state facility.

Where Chauvin Is Now

Chauvin was initially held at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, starting in August 2022. On November 24, 2023, another inmate stabbed him 22 times with an improvised knife in the prison law library. Correctional officers intervened, performed what authorities described as life-saving measures, and Chauvin survived.¹⁵

The attacker was John Turscak, a 52-year-old former member of the Mexican Mafia and one-time FBI informant. Turscak told investigators he had planned the attack for a month because Chauvin was a high-profile inmate and had timed it to Black Friday as a symbolic reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. He was charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.¹⁵

About nine months after the attack, Chauvin was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, Texas, a low-security facility with additional security measures for him.¹⁶ His projected release date is roughly 2037 to 2038.¹⁷

Can Chauvin Get Out Early?

Appeals

Chauvin’s state appeal argued he had not received a fair trial. His attorneys said jurors may have feared that an acquittal would spark more protests and that Judge Cahill should have granted a change of venue given pretrial publicity. The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in April 2023, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in November 2023 without comment. That ended his state appellate options.⁴

On the federal side, Chauvin filed a pro se motion in November 2023 asking Judge Magnuson to vacate his guilty plea. He argued that his attorney, Eric Nelson, was ineffective for not telling him about a Kansas forensic pathologist, William Schaetzel, who had theorized that Floyd died from complications of a rare tumor called a paraganglioma rather than from the restraint. Chauvin said he would not have pleaded guilty had he known.¹⁸ Prosecutors called those claims baseless and noted Chauvin had waived his appeal rights in the plea deal.¹⁹ Legal experts have described Chauvin’s remaining options as limited.¹⁷

The Pardon Campaign

In March 2025, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro launched an online petition at PardonDerek.com urging President Trump to pardon Chauvin, calling the conviction the “defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics.” Elon Musk, an adviser to the Trump administration, amplified the campaign on X.²⁰

A presidential pardon reaches only federal convictions. Chauvin’s 22.5-year state murder sentence would remain fully in effect, meaning a pardon would transfer him to a Minnesota state prison rather than release him. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Trump has “no power” to pardon the state conviction. Conservative commentator Andrew McCarthy of the National Review noted that a federal pardon could actually work against Chauvin, since the federal plea had been negotiated in part to keep him inside the federal system, away from the greater dangers of state facilities.²¹²⁰

Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, said a pardon would “hurt us” and be “disgusting.”²⁰ As of May 2025, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said there was “no credible information” that a pardon was coming, though his department had prepared contingency plans for possible unrest.²² No pardon has been granted.

What Happened to the Other Three Officers

The three other former officers at the scene all faced state and federal charges. In February 2022, a federal jury convicted Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao of willfully depriving Floyd of his civil rights. Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene in Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force; all three were found deliberately indifferent to Floyd’s medical needs.²

Their federal sentences were 2.5 years for Lane, 3 years for Kueng, and 3.5 years for Thao.²³ At the state level, Lane and Kueng pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and received 36 and 42 months, respectively, running concurrent to their federal terms.²⁴ Thao went to a bench trial on stipulated evidence, was found guilty of the same charge in May 2023, and received 57 months.²⁵

All three have been released. Lane left federal custody in August 2024, Kueng on January 15, 2025, and Thao on November 3, 2025. All remain on supervised release.¹⁷²⁶ Chauvin, whose sentence is far longer than any co-defendant’s, is the only one still behind bars.

1
BBC News. George Floyd: What Happened in the Final Moments of His Life
2
U.S. Department of Justice. Three Former Minneapolis Police Officers Convicted of Federal Civil Rights Violations
3
The New York Times. Derek Chauvin: What We Know About the Officer Who Arrested George Floyd
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CNN. Derek Chauvin Supreme Court Appeal Rejected
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NBC News. Derek Chauvin Trial Verdict
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The Washington Post. Derek Chauvin Trial Verdict
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NPR. Judge Finds Aggravating Factors in Chauvin Case
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NBC News. Derek Chauvin Sentencing Memo: Judge Pete Cahill Explains 22.5 Years
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CNN. Derek Chauvin Federal Sentencing
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NPR. Minneapolis Has Announced $27 Million Settlement With Family of George Floyd
11
Courthouse News Service. Government Sentencing Memorandum in United States v. Chauvin
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CNN. Derek Chauvin Federal Sentencing
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PBS NewsHour. Derek Chauvin Gets 21 Years for Violating George Floyds Civil Rights
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CNN. Derek Chauvin Sentence Federal Civil Rights Trial
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NPR. Inmate Who Stabbed Derek Chauvin Charged With Attempted Murder
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Corrections1. Ex-Officer Derek Chauvin Moved to New Prison Months After Being Stabbed 22 Times
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Police1. Derek Chauvin Update
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PBS NewsHour. Derek Chauvin Makes Another Bid to Overturn Federal Conviction
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NY1. Prosecutors Urge Rejection of Ex-Cops Bid to Dismiss Civil Rights Conviction
20
Time. Derek Chauvin Pardon Trump Petition Ben Shapiro Musk George Floyd
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MPR News. There Are Calls to Pardon Chauvin. Heres Why It Wouldnt Get Him Out of Prison
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FOX 9. Trump Pardon Derek Chauvin Unlikely, MPD Chief Says
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Los Angeles Times. Ex-Cops Kueng, Thao Sentenced for Violating Floyds Rights
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Minnesota Attorney General. Floyd Case Co-Defendant Outcomes
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The Washington Post. George Floyd Officer Sentenced
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CBS News Minnesota. Tou Thao Scheduled Prison Release