Former Minneapolis police officer pleads guilty to aiding, abetting manslaughter in George Floyd's killing
One of the four former Minneapolis police officers convicted in the killing of George Floyd pleaded guilty on Monday to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, just as jury selection for his state trial was set to begin.
The plea deal for J. Alexander Kueng calls for 3 1/2 years in prison, with prosecutors agreeing to drop a count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Kueng is the second officer to plead guilty to the state charge, following Thomas Lane, who pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Tou Thao, another ex-officer involved in arrest and restraint that killed Floyd, rejected a plea deal earlier this year, telling a judge it "would be lying" to accept any such deal. Jury selection for Thao was expected to begin later Monday, and his trial is expected to begin this week.
All three men were convicted in February on federal civil rights violations, as the jury found that they willfully failed to provide necessary aid or medical assistance to Floyd, a Black man and Minneapolis resident, during the restraint. Lane was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the federal case, while Kueng was sentenced to three years and Thao was sentenced to 3 1/2. For some Floyd family members and activists, the penalties were too small.
Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after ex-police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, pinned him to the ground and knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe. The killing, captured on widely viewed bystander video, sparked protests in Minneapolis and a reckoning over racial justice around the globe.
Chauvin was convicted on state charges of murder and manslaughter and sentenced to 22 1/2 years, before pleading guilty last year to violating Floyd's civil rights and the civil rights of a teenager in a different case. In July, he was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison. He will serve both sentences concurrently at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona.
Kueng and Lane helped to restrain Floyd, who was handcuffed, during the arrest that killed him. While Kueng knelt on Floyd's back and Lane held his legs, Thao kept bystanders away and prevented them from intervening.
In his plea agreement, Kueng admitted that he held Floyd's torso, that he knew from his experience and training that restraining a handcuffed person in a prone position created a substantial risk, and that the restraint of Floyd was unreasonable under the circumstances.
Kueng's plea called for him to serve his state and federal terms concurrently, just as Lane is doing.
Kueng is Black, Lane is White and Thao is Hmong American. They were convicted of federal charges in February after a monthlong trial that focused on the officers' training and the culture of the police department. All three were convicted of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care and Thao and Kueng were also convicted of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the killing.
After their federal sentences, there was a question as to whether Kueng and Thao would proceed to trial, with legal experts saying it was likely they'd seek a plea deal with the state that would not exceed the federal sentence and allow them serve both sentences at the same time.
State sentencing guidelines for a person with no criminal record, like Kueng, call for a range from about 3 1/2 years to four years and nine months in prison for second-degree unintentional manslaughter. The presumptive sentence is four years.
If Kueng had been convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, he would have faced a presumptive 12 1/2 years in prison.