X

Chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years for Floyd murder that prompted global protests

The former Minneapolis police officer was convicted in April.

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
Expertise News, mobile, broadband, 5G, home tech, streaming services, entertainment, AI, policy, business, politics Credentials
  • I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Ty Pendlebury
Corinne Reichert
George Floyd anniversary march

Marchers demanding police reform cross the Brooklyn Bridge in May, on the anniversary of George Floyd's death. Floyd's killer was sentenced Friday.

David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced Friday to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, a killing that set off a wave of protests and prompted Silicon Valley leaders to address racial inequality. The sentencing followed Chauvin's April conviction on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The May 2020 killing galvanized a racial justice movement in the US as smartphone video of Floyd's fatal encounter with Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, spread across the internet. Darnella Frazier, the teenager who captured the killing, was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for the video earlier this year.

The protests, some organized by Black Lives Matter, drew up to 26 million people globally and prompted business leaders to make unusually strong statements in response to calls for racial justice.

After Chauvin was found guilty in April, Microsoft President Brad Smith said that the "verdict is a step forward in acknowledging painful truths and for the continued cause of defeating racism and fighting discrimination." Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "this is part of a bigger struggle against racism and injustice." And Apple CEO Tim Cook called the verdict "just." 

Read more: Silicon Valley leaders react to guilty verdict in Chauvin trial