MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge will sentence former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane on Thursday in the federal civil rights case linked to the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson on Monday scheduled Lane's sentencing for 10 a.m. Thursday in St. Paul. Magnuson also scheduled a Friday hearing to take up legal objections from attorneys for two other officers convicted of violating Floyd's civil rights.
Federal prosecutors are seeking 6 1/2 years in prison for Lane, well below the more than 20-year sentence that Magnuson imposed on Derek Chauvin earlier this month. Lane, and former officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were found guilty by a jury in February of violating Floyd's civil rights while acting in their capacity as law enforcement officers. Both Kueng and Lane were convicted of charges tied to their failure to give Floyd medical care. Kueng was also convicted on charges related to not trying to stop Chauvin from using excessive force.
"As the jury necessarily found, the defendant recognized that George Floyd was suffering from a serious medical need and failed to provide him with the basic medical aid that the defendant was trained and duty-bound to give at a time when that aid could have made a difference," prosecutors wrote last month in a memo outlining their arguments for Lane's sentencing. "Although the defendant did not intend for Mr. Floyd to die, the defendant's failure to provide medical aid had serious consequences for Mr. Floyd, Mr. Floyd's family, defendant Lane's fellow law enforcement officers, and the broader community."
Manguson scheduled an 11 a.m. Friday hearing to consider objections from Kueng's and Thao's attorneys over the calculated sentencing guidelines in their respective cases.
Kueng and Thao are still awaiting an Oct. 24 trial in Hennepin County on state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. Lane pleaded guilty in May and agreed to a sentence of three years in the state case.
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