Former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd released from prison on Tuesday – InForum

One of the former Minneapolis police officers convicted of killing George Floyd in 2020 was released from prison on Tuesday, August 20, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Thomas Lane, who received the shortest prison sentence of the four former police officers involved in Floyd's death, is the first to leave prison.

In early 2022, a federal court jury convicted Lane of violating George Floyd's civil rights by ignoring his medical needs while former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. Later that year, Lane pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

In the video, Lane can be seen holding Floyd's legs while Chauvin and another former police officer, J. Alexander Kueng, restrain the 46-year-old Black man. Lane asked Chauvin twice if they should reposition Floyd so he could breathe. Chauvin dismissed the suggestions from Lane, who was a rookie on just his fourth day on duty when he confronted Floyd about allegations that he used a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store.

Lane, 41, served his 30-month federal sentence concurrently with his three-year state sentence at a federal prison in Colorado.

Lane is expected to leave the facility to serve the final year of his sentence on probation. Under Minnesota law, most offenders must serve the first two-thirds of their sentence in prison and the remainder on probation.

A spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Corrections said Lane will be returned to the state and his supervision will be transferred to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections under an interstate agreement.

At Lane's state sentencing hearing in 2022, then-Minnesota Deputy Attorney General Matthew Frank said Lane deserved a shorter sentence than the other former police officers because he played a “slightly less culpable role” in Floyd's death and “there were moments when Mr. Lane tried to change what happened that day.”

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Kueng and former police officer Tou Thao are scheduled to be released in April.

Chauvin — who is serving a 22 1/2-year state sentence and a 20-year federal sentence — is not expected to be released until 2038. Chauvin began his sentence at a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, but records show he was recently transferred to a transfer facility in Oklahoma. The Bureau of Prisons has not provided details on why it transferred Chauvin.

The 48-year-old former police officer was seriously injured in November when a fellow inmate stabbed him 22 times in a prison law library. John Turscak, 53, a former gang member, has pleaded not guilty to assault and attempted murder charges.