CNN’s Van Jones made it clear Friday that he was not satisfied with the sentence handed down for former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. Floyd died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes, remaining there even after Floyd became unresponsive. (RELATED: ‘People In The Black Community Don’t Trust You’: Sunny Hostin Challenges Van Jones Over Support For Trump Policies)
BREAKING: Derek Chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for murder of George Floyd. https://t.co/Uj6XFx0BP9
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 25, 2021
Jones, who has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform, made an appearance on “CNN Newsroom” to react to the news in real-time.
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Attorney Elie Honig said he felt the sentence was lighter than it could have been, especially considering he could be paroled after serving only two-thirds of that time, or 15 years.
“Very disappointing. Fifteen years. I know people doing 15 years for nothing. For victimless crimes of drug possession,” Jones said.
“What this man did, it should’ve been the maximum of the maximum. This is disappointing. I don’t think it’s going to cause outrage. But it’s a punch in the gut. This guy’s life was worth more than 15 years — it was. And what that officer did is worth more than 15 years,” Jones added, arguing that Chauvin’s sentence should have sent a message to law enforcement everywhere that they could not act the way he had.
“It’s disappointing,” Jones said again.