Former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin set to plead guilty in federal civil rights case for George Floyd killing

KEY POINTS

• A court filing indicates that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will plead guilty in the federal civil rights case related to his killing of George Floyd.
• Floyd's death in May 2020 death set off protests nationwide and led to widespread calls for reform of police departments.
• Chauvin, who is white, was convicted in April of Minnesota state charges of murder and manslaughter at a trial for Floyd's killing. He was sentenced in July to 22-and-a-half years in prison.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin addresses his sentencing hearing and the judge as he awaits his sentence after being convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 25, 2021 in a still image from video.

Pool via Reuters

A court filing Monday indicates that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will plead guilty Wednesday in the federal civil rights case related to his killing of George Floyd, whose death set off protests and demands for reform of police departments nationwide in 2020.

Chauvin, who is white, was convicted in April of Minnesota state charges of murder and manslaughter at a trial for Floyd's killing. He was sentenced in July to 22-and-a-half years in prison.

Weeks after his conviction, federal prosecutors obtained a criminal indictment of Chauvin and three other Minneapolis cops for violating the civil rights of the 46-year-old Floyd during a May 2020 arrest for using a counterfeit bill in a purchase.

Chauvin had held his knee on or around the neck of a handcuffed and prone Floyd for more than nine minutes that day as two of the other cops helped restrain Floyd. The four former officers had pleaded not guilty in the federal case.

On Monday, the Minneapolis federal court docket of the civil rights case against the cops was updated to note that Chauvin will appear for a change of plea hearing on Wednesday morning in St. Paul, Minnesota. Such hearings are held when a defendant plans to plead guilty.

There was no indication that the other defendants, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, are changing their pleas in the case.

Those three men are set to go on trial in state court next year on criminal charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter after they face trial on the federal civil rights charges. They have pleaded not guilty in the state case.

Chauvin's defense lawyer and the lead prosecutor in the case did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the change of plea hearing.