Ex-officer Thomas Lane released from federal prison

Thomas Lane, one of the four ex-police officers from Minneapolis convicted in George Floyd’s death, was released from federal prison on Tuesday, as confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Lane, 41, was convicted in 2022 for infringing Floyd’s civil rights during the fatal restraint on May 25, 2020. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was handcuffed and held on his stomach for over nine minutes, repeatedly stating, “I can’t breathe.”

As a rookie officer on his fourth day, Lane held Floyd’s legs during the arrest. Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck and back, while J. Alexander Kueng restrained Floyd’s torso. Tou Thao kept onlookers at bay.

In July 2022, Lane received a two-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence. Later that year, he was sentenced to three years for aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, after pleading guilty to the state charge.

Initially, Lane faced a charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder, which was dropped as part of a plea agreement, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office.

Both state and defense attorneys had recommended a 36-month sentence.

The sentence

Lane served his concurrent sentences at Englewood prison in Colorado, a low-security federal facility near Denver with roughly 1,000 inmates.

“He has a two-year term of supervision imposed through the District of Minnesota,” stated Randilee Giamusso, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, on Tuesday.

Lane’s attorney has not responded to requests for comment.

All four former officers were convicted on state and federal charges related to Floyd’s death.

Chauvin was convicted in April 2021 of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. The US Supreme Court rejected his appeal in November 2023.

Chauvin later pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights and received a 21-year sentence to run concurrently with his state sentence.

After being stabbed in an Arizona prison last November, he was transferred to Big Spring federal prison in Texas.

A federal jury found Kueng and Thao guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights, sentencing them to three years and three and a half years, respectively.

In December 2022, Kueng pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Thao received a nearly five-year sentence in August 2023 for the same state charges.