Ex-Mpls. Officer Sentenced to 2½ Years in George Floyd’s Civil Rights Case

A federal judge sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane to 2½ years in prison in the federal civil rights case linked to the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson handed down the 30-month sentence during an hourlong hearing in St. Paul.

"This is a very serious offense wherein a life was lost," Magnuson said before delivering Lane's sentence. "The fact that you did not get up and remove Mr. Chauvin from Mr. Floyd when Mr. Floyd became unresponsive is a violation of the law."

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Yet Magnuson — who called Lane "a person of outstanding character" and held up a large stack of letters in support of Lane — acknowledged a lesser culpability in causing Floyd's death.

Earl Gray, Lane's attorney, previously asked for a 27-month sentence, noting that his client had an "impeccable" character. Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of between 5¼ and 6½ years in prison for Lane, well below the more than 20-year sentence that Magnuson imposed on Derek Chauvin earlier this month.

"It is fair and reasonable for a police officer to act when they both appreciate the seriousness of the situation and have the training to make a difference," Assistant U.S. Attorney Manda Sertich said in court on Thursday. "But there has to be a line where blindly following a senior officer's lead even for the newest officers cannot be acceptable and that line is surely crossed when someone is dying slowly in front of the new officer."

After a 21-day trial, Lane and former officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were found guilty by a jury in February of violating Floyd's civil rights while acting in their capacity as law enforcement officers. Both Kueng and Lane were convicted of charges tied to their failure to give Floyd medical care. Kueng and Thao were also convicted on charges related to not trying to stop Chauvin from using excessive force.

"As the jury necessarily found, the defendant recognized that George Floyd was suffering from a serious medical need and failed to provide him with the basic medical aid that the defendant was trained and duty-bound to give at a time when that aid could have made a difference," prosecutors wrote last month in a memo outlining their arguments for Lane's sentencing. "Although the defendant did not intend for Mr. Floyd to die, the defendant's failure to provide medical aid had serious consequences for Mr. Floyd, Mr. Floyd's family, defendant Lane's fellow law enforcement officers, and the broader community."

Before sentencing Chauvin this month, Magnuson told the ex-officer that he "absolutely destroyed the lives of three other officers by taking control of this scene," referring to the deadly force Chauvin — a training officer and superior to the officers — applied to Floyd's neck.

Lane declined to address the court before his sentencing on Thursday. Magnuson said he would urge the federal Bureau of Prisons to send the ex-officer to a facility in Duluth, nothing that he did not believe Lane warranted being incarcerated at a higher-security prison. Magnuson set an Oct. 4 self-surrender date for Lane, explaining that it would follow his Sept. 21 state court sentencing.

Philonise Floyd, Floyd's brother, returned to address the judge as he did before Chauvin's sentencing earlier this month. Again he reminded the courtroom that each day he must relive his brother's public "torture."

" Officer Lane did not intervene whatsoever," he said, later adding: "Not one officer chose to administer aid. Instead, it took four officers to show up for a nonviolent offender allegedly accused of paying with a counterfeit $20 bill and not one officer uttered a word to save my brother's life."

"I'm asking you, no, I'm begging you to hold each officer accountable and hand down the highest possible punishment," Floyd said.

Floyd's nephew, Brandon Williams, also urged Magnuson to impose the maximum punishment.

As she spoke, an emotional Courteney Ross, Floyd's girlfriend, turned to directly address Lane. She described her late partner as someone who taught her that it was a "godly duty" to intervene and help those in need.

"Mr. Lane, I don't think you're a bad guy. I think you are one man in a system that perpetuates ideologies of prejudice and hate," she said.

"You are one of the last people to touch my Floyd's heart," she said. "I do not take that notion lightly. The light in his heart, if opened up, would blind the world. Now it is your time to follow in his legacy."

Ross told Lane that she believed he would have changed what had happened had he the ability to go back in time – "not just for you but for Floyd as well."

She told Lane that after he paid his dues, "when you get out, find that hero inside of you to make sure that this never happens again. Don't ever be afraid to stand up for what you know is right."

Speaking later outside the St. Paul federal courthouse, Floyd's loved ones called the sentence delivered to Lane "insulting," repeating their insistence that all four officers involved in Floyd's killing receive the strongest possible sentences.

Magnuson has also scheduled an 11 a.m. hearing Friday to consider objections from Kueng's and Thao's attorneys over the calculated sentencing guidelines in their respective federal cases.

Kueng and Thao are still awaiting an Oct. 24 trial in Hennepin County on state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. Lane pleaded guilty in May and agreed to a sentence of three years in the state case.

Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill will sentence Lane on Sept. 21 in that case. Lane's attorney, Earl Gray, is asking Magnuson to impose a sentence of a little more than two years on the federal charges.