Former police officer convicted of murder of George Floyd stabbed in prison

Court TV via Associated Press Archives Former police officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court in September 2021.

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, is expected to survive serious injuries after being stabbed by another inmate at an Arizona federal prison, the prosecutor's office said Saturday General of Minnesota, denouncing the attack.

The stabbing took place Friday at the Tucson Federal Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison plagued by security lapses and understaffing. This was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the attack and spoke to The Associated Press (AP) on condition of anonymity.

“We've heard he's expected to survive,” Brian Evans, a spokesman for the Minnesota attorney general's office, told the AP of Chauvin.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed an assault at the facility and said employees took “rescue measures” before the inmate was taken to a hospital for treatment and further evaluation. The Bureau of Prisons did not name the victim or provide medical status “for privacy and security reasons.”

Prosecutors who succeeded in obtaining a second-degree murder conviction against Chauvin during a jury trial in 2021, expressed dismay that he had become the target of violence while in federal custody.

“I am saddened to learn that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence. He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of reprisal or violence,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.

The Bureau of Prisons said no employees at the Tucson facility were injured in the attack and that the FBI had been notified. The facility has about 380 inmates.

Terrence Floyd, George Floyd's brother, told the AP on Saturday that he wouldn't wish what happened to Chauvin on anyone and that he was stunned when he first heard the news.

“I'm not going to put my energy into anything that happens within those four walls – because my energy was devoted to bringing it within those four walls,” Mr. Floyd said. Whatever happens within these four walls, I don't really have any feelings about it. »

The Chauvin stabbing is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the past five months. In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed by a fellow inmate at a Florida federal penitentiary.

Chauvin, 47, was sent to the Tucson Penitentiary from a maximum-security state prison in Minnesota in August 2022 to concurrently serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Mr. Floyd's civil rights and a sentence of 'State 22 1/2 years for second-degree murder.

Chauvin's lawyer, Eric Nelson, had argued for keeping him away from the general population and other inmates, anticipating that he would become a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was kept primarily in solitary confinement “largely for his own protection,” Mr. Nelson wrote in court papers last year.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court United States rejected Chauvin's appeal of his murder conviction. Separately, Chauvin is seeking to overturn his federal guilty plea, saying new evidence shows he did not cause Floyd's death.

George Floyd, a black man, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pressed a knee on his neck for nine and a half minutes in the street outside a convenience store where Mr. Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.