A former Minneapolis police officer has pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd
Highlights
- Thomas Lane pleads guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
- He will avoid what could have been a lengthy state sentence if he was convicted of murder.
- Lane and two other officers have already been convicted on federal counts of willfully violating Floyd’s rights.
- The guilty plea comes a week before the two-year anniversary of Floyd’s May 25, 2020, killing.
- Attorney General Keith Ellison: “Accountability is not justice, this is a significant moment in this case and a necessary resolution on our journey to justice” The killing sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the globe as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.
- The state and Lane’s attorneys agreed to a recommended sentence of three years.