Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane was sentenced Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court to three years in prison for his role in George Floyd's killing more than two years ago.
Lane, who appeared in the virtual court hearing, is already serving a 2½-year sentence at a Colorado federal prison for violating Floyd's civil rights. In exchange for a three-year sentence to be served concurrently with his federal sentence, Lane pleaded guilty in May in district court to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
Judge Peter Cahill opened the hearing by allowing prosecutors to read a victim impact statement on behalf of the Floyd family.
"Here we go again," said prosecutor Matthew Frank in reading the family's written statement. "I'm sure that's what many are thinking, but here's a reminder: My family never asked for this. No one wants to be a victim of a crime. It's truly unwanted and involuntary. How many more times will me and my family give a victim impact statement?
"As we are here today for the sentencing of former officer Thomas Lane, I just want to take a moment and try to recite the last unwanted and involuntary two years of me and my family's lives."
Cahill said he based his sentencing on the video evidence he viewed during former police officer Derek Chauvin's 2021 trial on charges he murdered Floyd. The judge said he found Lane played a lesser role in the killing.
"I think it was a very wise decision for you to accept responsibility and move with your life even though the Floyd family has problems, and understandably so, moving on with their own lives."
Frank said the plea agreement relied on the transcript from Chauvin's trial to assess Lane's role and determine whether there was a basis to depart from sentencing guidelines.
"Mr. Lane had played a somewhat less culpable role in the commission of the offense," he said. "And more specifically, there were moments when Mr. Lane tried to change what was going on that day, initially trying to de-escalate the situation with Mr. Floyd, and even calling attention to maybe some better way to handle it.
"Those are different than what the others at the scene did. While those may make his conduct less culpable, they of course do not relieve him of all responsibility, because they simply were inadequate to stop the excessive and unlawful subdual and restraint that ultimately led to Mr. Floyd's death."
Lane's attorney Earl Gray limited his comments to asking Cahill to sentence Lane to the terms of the plea agreement: a state sentence concurrent with the federal sentence the former officer is already serving for violating Floyd's civil rights.
Lane declined to comment from the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood, a low-security federal prison camp in Littleton, Colo.
On May 25, 2020, Floyd died after Chauvin knelt on his neck while Lane held his legs and ex-officer J. Alexander Kueng knelt on his back. Ex-officer Tou Thao prevented bystanders from intervening during the street corner confrontation in south Minneapolis.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter and received a 22½-year state sentence. He later pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyd's civil rights.
Kueng and Thao were convicted on federal civil rights charges; Kueng was sentenced to three years, and Thao was given 3½ years. In August, they formally rejected the same state plea deal offered to Lane and are scheduled to stand trial next month.
Frank, in reading the impact statement, retraced the more than two years of legal proceedings leading up to Wednesday's hearing.
"Did I get that all right?" the prosecutor asked. "I honestly don't know because it's been a lot."
