Global Courant 2023-05-02 21:53:25
A Minnesota court convicted ex-cop Tou Thao of aiding in the murder of George Floyd by holding back a crowd of onlookers as former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck in 2020.
Tuesday’s verdict found Thao guilty of complicity in second-degree manslaughter, with the judge dismissing his second charge of complicity in second-degree murder.
Thao’s lawyers argued that the officer was distracted by his duties to contain an angry mob and was not focused on what was happening to Floyd behind him. They also argued that Thao had followed training procedures to the letter.
“Thao’s actions were exactly in line with what MPD had taught him to do when someone is suspected of experiencing agitated delirium,” his legal team argued. “His intention was to follow his training and MPD policy. He observed other officers taking the training MPD had given them. What he saw was exactly what MPD had trained their officers in this situation.”
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Former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao, left, has been convicted of complicity in second-degree manslaughter for crowd control surrounding the murder of George Floyd. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
Nevertheless, prosecutors argued that Thao aided in Floyd’s murder by first not intervening himself and second by preventing the mob from intervening.
“The state does not have to prove that an accomplice’s willful assistance was actually ‘effective in helping the primary actor,'” prosecutors argued in a written claim, according to Fox 9. “Thus, it is not a defense against criminal liability for an accomplice was not useful because of his intentional assistance Also in the context of complicity in manslaughter in the second degree, the State only needs to demonstrate that the accomplice was aware of and deliberately cooperated in the objectively gross negligence of the declarant . The State need not prove that the accomplice knew and intended for a death to occur.”
Thao is already in federal prison on charges of depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights. He was sentenced to 42 months in July 2022 for that charge.
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Former officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for the 2020 murder of George Floyd. (Court TV via AP)
George Floyd was killed in May 2020 while under arrest, sparking massive protests across the US and beyond.
Legal representatives for George Floyd’s family praised Thao’s conviction in a statement Tuesday.
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“George Floyd’s family is grateful for a new measure of responsibility for his death. Nearly three years after George was killed, the family and community of Minneapolis continue to heal as the criminal justice system prevails. With each of these measures of justice, it is still demonstrated more that police brutality is an illegal – and criminal – act,” they wrote.
Thao’s hearing for his latest sentencing is scheduled for August 7.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering national politics and major news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
