Tou Thao, the final former Minneapolis police officer found guilty in state court for his involvement in the death of George Floyd, received a sentence of 4 years and 9 months on Monday. Despite this, Thao maintained his innocence. During the trial, Thao claimed that he was merely acting as a “human traffic cone,” preventing concerned onlookers from intervening as Derek Chauvin, a white officer, kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over 9 minutes while Floyd pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020. During his sentencing, Thao spoke extensively about his personal growth as a Christian during his time in prison. Although he expressed distress over Floyd’s death, he denied any responsibility for it.
“I did not commit these crimes,” Thao asserted. “My conscience is clear. I will not betray my God by becoming a Judas or aligning myself with a self-preserving mob.” In response, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill expressed disappointment, stating that he had hoped for more than religious rhetoric from Thao. “After three years of contemplation, I was expecting some level of remorse,” the judge remarked. Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, announced that they plan to appeal the sentence. The state sentence imposed by Cahill will be served concurrently with Thao’s 3 1/2-year sentence resulting from his separate conviction on a federal civil rights charge, which was upheld by an appeals court on Friday. Thao’s state sentence exceeds the recommended 4 years stipulated by Minnesota state guidelines.
Thao had rejected a plea bargain for the state charge, as he believed it would be dishonest to plead guilty when he believed he had done no wrong. Instead, he agreed to let Judge Cahill decide the case based on evidence presented during Chauvin’s murder trial in 2021 and the federal civil rights trial in 2022 which involved Thao, as well as former officers Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. All three were convicted in the federal trial. Chauvin chose to plead guilty to federal civil rights charges, while Lane and Kueng pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter.
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