"Free violence", "particular cruelty" ... American prosecutors intend to ask for exceptionally long sentences for the four police officers accused of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, also because of the "vulnerable" status of the victim at the time of the facts.
Citing numerous aggravating circumstances, the prosecution will seek sentences "higher" than legal recommendations for the four officers involved in the murder of George Floyd, according to court documents sent to court on Friday, while the trial is scheduled for March 2021. The George Floyd's family is also demanding justice.
Derek Chauvin charged with murder
The police "abused their position of authority" and the ex-agent Derek Chauvin showed "a particular cruelty", inflicting "violence for free", in front of many witnesses including children, underlined the Attorney Keith Ellison.
Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old former white police officer, is charged with murder for suffocating George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, by kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis. His three former colleagues Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, are being prosecuted for complicity in murder.
"George Floyd, the victim, was particularly vulnerable because the police had already handcuffed his hands behind his back and placed him facing the ground," prosecutors said.
VIDEO Death of George Floyd: all the images on board two police officers unveiled
The lawyers also recalled that "Floyd had clearly and repeatedly told the officers that he could not breathe."
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Prosecutors did not specify the length of sentences they intended to seek, but the maximum sentence for murder is 40 years in the state of Minnesota.
Black Lives Matter: an unprecedented protest
The filmed ordeal of George Floyd, whose images have been taken around the world, sparked a protest movement on a scale unprecedented for decades in the United States.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators notably paid tribute to him on Friday in Washington during a vast march against racism and police violence, 57 years after Martin Luther King's iconic speech, "I have a dream".
57 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his #IHaveADream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington ....
... 57 years later, people are demanding justice on those same steps. pic.twitter.com/MI3oWoehKJ