A former Minneapolis police officer accused of participating in the murder of George Floyd pleaded guilty on Monday shortly before his trial began, a spokesperson for the state court confirmed.
J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty and admitted his complicity in the crime of murder — the crux of the charge against him. Kueng was among three officers who watched Derek Chauvin, a fellow white officer, kill the black man, Floyd, by suffocation by pressing his knee against the victim’s neck for more than nine minutes.
Two other police officers were accused of having participated in the crime. Thomas Lane, for helping, and Tou Thao, responsible for warding off passersby who watched the murder that May 2020. Lane, Thao and Chauvin were convicted in federal courts in July, accused of depriving the victim of his civil rights, and convicted with sentences of two and a half to three and a half years.
Chauvin received the harshest sentence. A confessed defendant, he took the blame for the murder in cases that were being processed in the federal court, and is currently serving a 21-year sentence in this case. At the state level, he was also convicted, sentenced to 22 years in prison.
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