Facebook Publication Date: 4/20/2021 22:04
Lace on Race sez:
A dose of cold water that dampens elation: it is entirely possible that Mr. Chauvin could get as little as 12 years if MN sentencing guidelines are followed; he is a ‘first time offender’ (not really, check his police record) after all, right? The media crowing about 40 years is more than a bit misleading. That is the maximum his convictions could carry, unless, perhaps, his sentences run consecutively rather than concurrently.
Per Emily Bazelon of NYT: “Whether that affects Mr. Chauvin’s sentence depends on how Judge Peter A. Cahill parses it. Because Mr. Chauvin has no criminal history, he would receive a 12.5-year sentence for the top charge if the judge followed Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines. The maximum charge for second-degree murder, however, is 40 years.”
As well, also according to Bazelon, there is also the real possibility that one or more counts could be thrown out on appeal, which means he could serve even less time than that.
For a committed and (usually) immovable pacifist like myself, it is dissonance personified: I am not a fan of the justice system as it stands, and am also not a proponent of maximum sentences.
But. In this case, in light of the real possibility (probability?) that he could possibly serve time for ‘only’ manslaughter is galling. Particularly considering that the entire basis for Chauvin’s ‘only’ standing for charges lesser than first degree murder is laughable on its face. There was no assertion of intent; only these criteria, as detailed by Bazelon:
1) causing the death of a human being, without intent, while committing or attempting to commit an assault (second-degree murder);
2) unintentionally causing a death by committing an act that is eminently dangerous to other persons while exhibiting a depraved mind, with reckless disregard for human life (third-degree murder);
3) and creating an unreasonable risk, by consciously taking the chance of causing death or great bodily harm to someone else (manslaughter).
Neither murder charge required the jury to find that Mr. Chavin intended to kill Mr. Floyd. Nor did the manslaughter charge. So the jury could have determined a state of mind for Mr. Chauvin (the legal term of art is “mens rea”) that would cover all three charges.
_____
Welp.
This sticks in my throat like, well, like a heavy black boot.
Chauvin had his boot on Mr. Floyd’s neck for fully nine minutes and twenty nine seconds. Which means he had at least nine minutes and 28 seconds to course correct. At some point during that time, lack of determination, of purposefulness, morphed into steely resolve.
What is that if not intent?
The media, and the white people waiting so desperately to exhale, want to believe, needs to believe, that this outcome is absolute best case. They want to believe it even before sentencing and appeal; they want to believe it even as ‘best case’ was taken off of the table when they eschewed even attempting to prove intent.
It is not.
Absolute best case is Floyd being alive and chill, smoking a Kool, listening to something cool, sipping on something cool, surrounded by those he loved.
Best case evaporated, along with his last breath, on May 25, 2020.
Nothing, nothing, *nothing* here today is best case.
Pretending, however disingenuously, that this truncation bears even passing resemblance to ‘best case’ suggests to me exactly who this trial was for.
Certainly not for the family.
And definitely not for George.
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