Officers in the George Floyd Case: Sentences, Settlement, and Reform

Four Minneapolis officers were involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death on May 25, 2020: Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane. Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, was convicted of murder and remains in federal prison with a projected 2038 release. The other three officers were convicted in both federal and state court for their roles, served their sentences, and have all been released to supervised probation.

Derek Chauvin

Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, was the officer facing the most serious charges. In April 2021, a Hennepin County jury found him guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in state prison.¹

In December 2021, Chauvin pleaded guilty to separate federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights. The federal plea also covered a 2017 incident in which he used excessive force against a 14-year-old boy.² On July 7, 2022, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced him to 21 years in federal prison, to be served concurrently with his state sentence.¹

A third case added time but runs concurrent. Chauvin pleaded guilty in March 2023 to state tax fraud charges in Washington County, Minnesota, and received 13 months, plus restitution, on allegations that he and his then-wife underreported more than $464,000 in income between 2014 and 2019.³⁴

Prison Stabbing and Transfer

On November 24, 2023, Chauvin was stabbed 22 times with an improvised knife in the law library of the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona. Correctional officers performed life-saving measures before he was transported to a hospital. The attacker, 52-year-old inmate John Turscak, was charged with attempted murder and related offenses.⁵ After recovering, Chauvin was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring, Texas, a low-security facility, where he is currently held.⁶

Appeals

Chauvin has pursued numerous challenges to both convictions, none successfully. In November 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment to review his state murder conviction, rejecting his argument that juror bias and pretrial publicity had deprived him of a fair trial.⁷ A federal appeals court has twice denied rehearing on his challenge to the federal plea, which relies on the theories of a Kansas forensic pathologist who suggested Floyd died from a tumor rather than asphyxia.⁸

In state court, Judge Paul Scoggin dismissed Chauvin’s postconviction petition in April 2025, finding many arguments had already been litigated at trial. Chauvin filed another postconviction petition on November 20, 2025, alleging prosecutorial misconduct and false expert testimony and seeking either a new trial or an evidentiary hearing.⁹¹⁰ The petition is under advisement, with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office due to respond by January 4, 2026. If his appeals remain unsuccessful, Chauvin’s projected release date is 2038.⁶

Tou Thao

Thao held back bystanders while Chauvin restrained Floyd. In February 2022, a federal jury in St. Paul convicted him of willfully failing to intervene to stop Chauvin’s use of unreasonable force and willfully failing to provide Floyd medical care.¹¹ Judge Magnuson sentenced him to three and a half years in federal prison on July 27, 2022.¹²

Thao rejected a state plea deal and chose a bench trial before Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill. On May 1, 2023, Cahill found him guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter; the state dropped the aiding-and-abetting murder count.¹³ He was sentenced on August 7, 2023, to 57 months in state prison, served concurrently with his federal term.¹⁴

Thao’s federal appeal was rejected by the Eighth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined review on January 8, 2024.¹⁵ He was released from custody on November 3, 2025, and is on supervised probation under Anoka County Community Corrections until June 2027.¹⁴

J. Alexander Kueng

Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back during the restraint. At the February 2022 federal trial he was convicted of failing to intervene and failing to provide medical care.¹¹ Judge Magnuson sentenced him to three years in federal prison on July 27, 2022.¹²

Kueng reversed course on the day state jury selection was set to begin in October 2022 and pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter; the aiding-and-abetting unintentional murder count was dismissed. He admitted that he held Floyd’s torso, knew the prone restraint of a handcuffed person created a substantial risk, and acknowledged the restraint was unreasonable.¹⁶ On December 9, 2022, he was sentenced to three and a half years in state prison, served concurrently with his federal sentence.¹⁷

He was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton, Ohio, on January 15, 2025, and remains on probation until March 2026.¹⁸

Thomas Lane

Lane, on his fourth shift as a police officer when Floyd was killed, held Floyd’s legs during the restraint. In the February 2022 federal trial he was convicted of willfully failing to provide medical care. He was not charged with failure to intervene; the trial record showed he had twice asked Chauvin whether Floyd should be repositioned.¹¹ Judge Magnuson sentenced him to two and a half years in federal prison on July 21, 2022.¹²

Lane took a state plea deal in May 2022, pleading guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter; the aiding-and-abetting second-degree murder charge was dismissed. He was sentenced to three years in state prison, served concurrently with his federal term at FCI Englewood in Colorado.¹⁹ Lane was released on August 20, 2024, and placed on supervised release.²⁰

The $27 Million Civil Settlement

On March 12, 2021, while jury selection was underway in Chauvin’s murder trial, the City of Minneapolis reached a $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family to resolve a federal wrongful death lawsuit. The agreement was approved unanimously by the city council. Family attorney Ben Crump called it the largest pretrial settlement in a police civil rights wrongful death case in U.S. history. Of the total, $500,000 was designated for community improvement efforts in the neighborhood where Floyd was killed.²¹

What Happened to Police Reform

Floyd’s killing triggered a Department of Justice pattern-or-practice investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, launched on April 21, 2021, one day after Chauvin’s murder conviction. On June 16, 2023, the DOJ announced findings that the department had engaged in a pattern of excessive force, racial discrimination against Black and Native American residents, suppression of protected speech, and discrimination against people with behavioral health disabilities.²²

The Minneapolis City Council approved a negotiated federal consent decree on January 6, 2025. It did not last. On May 21, 2025, the Trump administration’s Justice Department moved to dismiss the case, stating it no longer believed the consent decree was in the public interest. A federal judge granted the motion on May 27, 2025.²³

Mayor Jacob Frey signed Executive Order 2025-01 on June 10, 2025, directing city leadership to implement the reforms from the proposed federal consent decree on their own.²² A separate state-level agreement between the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the city, reached on March 31, 2023, and approved by a state court on July 13, 2023, remains in force. It requires the MPD to implement changes addressing race-based policing and can only be terminated when the city achieves full, sustained compliance.²⁴ An independent monitoring team, Effective Law Enforcement for All, selected in February 2024, oversees the department’s progress and publishes semi-annual public reports.²⁵

1
ABC News. Derek Chauvin Sentenced on Federal Charges for Violating George Floyd’s Civil Rights
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FOX 9. Derek Chauvin Federal Indictment Includes 2017 Case Involving 14-Year-Old
3
Minnesota Reformer. Derek Chauvin Charged With Tax Fraud in Washington County
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CBS News Minnesota. Kellie Chauvin Sentenced in Tax Fraud Case
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NPR. Derek Chauvin Inmate Stabbed, Charged With Attempted Murder
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NPR. Ex-Officer Convicted in George Floyd’s Killing Is Moved to New Prison
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ABC 7 NY. Supreme Court Rejects Derek Chauvin Appeal in George Floyd Case
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PBS NewsHour. Derek Chauvin Makes Another Bid to Overturn Federal Conviction
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Police1. Derek Chauvin Files for New Trial Alleging Faulty Medical Evaluation, Jury Instructions
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WSAZ. Derek Chauvin Seeks New Trial After Murder Conviction in George Floyd’s Death
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The New York Times. George Floyd Federal Civil Rights Trial Verdict
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CNN. Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng Sentenced in George Floyd Case
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MPR News. Thao Found Guilty of Aiding and Abetting Manslaughter
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CBS News Minnesota. Tou Thao Scheduled Prison Release
15
MPR News. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Ex-Officer Tou Thao
16
CBS News Minnesota. J. Alexander Kueng Sentencing
17
ABC 7 NY. J. Alexander Kueng Sentenced in George Floyd Case
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CBS News Minnesota. J. Alexander Kueng Prison Release
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ABC 7 News. Thomas Lane Released From Prison
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CNN. Thomas Lane Released From Prison
21
NPR. Minneapolis Has Announced $27 Million Settlement With Family of George Floyd
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City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis Consent Decree
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PBS NewsHour. Justice Department Moves to Cancel Minneapolis and Louisville Police Reform Settlements
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Minnesota Department of Human Rights. MDHR Settlement Agreement With the City of Minneapolis
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Minnesota Department of Human Rights. MDHR Settlement Agreement Monitor