Derek Chauvin only 10th police officer in 16 years to serve prison time for on-duty murder

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin became just the 10th U.S. police officer in 16 years sentenced to prison for murdering someone while on-duty, Fox 9's Seth Kaplan reports. Since 2005, only nine other officers have received sentences for such a crime.

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On Friday, Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison after having been convicted two months earlier for the murder of George Floyd.

"I think people need to understand that the fact that there was a prosecution at all is something that is very rare and largely unprecedented," said civil rights lawyer Brian Dunn to ABC News.

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Despite its rarity, some, like CNN commentator Van Jones, have criticized Chauvin's sentence as being "too light," especially after The Associated Press noted he "could be paroled after serving two-thirds of his sentence, or about 15 years."

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.