Former law enforcement officer from Minneapolis, Thomas Lane, who was found guilty in relation to George Floyd's demise, discharged from federal penitentiary.
In 2022, Lane, ages 41, was found guilty of infringing on Floyd's civil liberties after he was fatally restrained by police officers on May 25, 2020. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was handcuffed and subjected to more than nine minutes of restraint on his stomach, despite his repeated pleas of "I can't breathe."
During the arrest, Lane, a new officer on his fourth day, held down Floyd's legs, while Chauvin, another officer, applied pressure to Floyd's neck and back with his knee, and Kueng, another officer, restrained Floyd's upper body. Thao, the fourth officer, kept back a disturbing crowd of onlookers.
Lane was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence in a federal prison in July 2022. Later that year, he was sentenced to an additional three years in prison for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death, for which he pleaded guilty.
Initially, Lane faced charges of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder, which were subsequently dropped as part of a plea agreement, as communicated by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office at the time.
Both state and defense attorneys suggested a sentence of 36 months, which CNN had previously reported.
Lane served his sentences simultaneously at the Englewood prison in Colorado, a low-security federal penitentiary with around 1,000 inmates, as per the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Lane's attorney did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
All four former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty on both state and federal charges in relation to Floyd's death.
Chauvin, responsible for state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, was given a 22 and a half-year prison sentence in April 2021. The US Supreme Court rejected Chauvin's appeal of this conviction in November 2023.
Subsequently, Chauvin pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights and was given an additional 21-year sentence to be served concurrently with his state sentence.
While in an Arizona federal prison, Chauvin was stabbed last November and was subsequently transferred to the Big Spring low-security federal prison in Texas on Tuesday, as confirmed by the Bureau of Prisons to CNN.
A federal jury found Kueng and Thao guilty of violating Floyd's civil rights and they were subsequently sentenced to three years and three-and-a-half years in prison, respectively.
In December 2022, Kueng pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, while Thao was given nearly five years in prison in August 2023 for the same state charges.
CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
In the aftermath of the trial, Lane stated that he felt remorse for his role in Floyd's death and expressed hope that his incarceration could help bring some closure to Floyd's family and community. As part of the legal process, the 'us' (Lane, Chauvin, Kueng, and Thao) were all found guilty on various charges related to Floyd's death.
