The BulleTin • SaTurday, June 26, 2021 A7
THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
Derek Chauvin gets 22.5 years in prison
BY HOLLY BAILEY
The Washington Post
MINNEAPOLIS — A
Minnesota judge on Friday
sentenced former police offi-
cer Derek Chauvin to 22 1/2
years in prison for the mur-
der of George Floyd, a Black
man whose desperate gasps
for air beneath the knee of the
white officer captured on a vi-
ral video forever changed the
American conversation on race
and justice.
Chauvin, who was fired after
the killing and then convicted
by a jury in April on charges of
second-degree unintentional
murder, third-degree murder
and second-degree manslaugh-
ter, had faced up to 40 years in
prison.
In rendering his sentence,
Hennepin County District
Judge Peter Cahill, who over-
saw Chauvin’s trial, offered
brief remarks, saying it was
not the time to be “profound
or clever” from the bench. He
said he had based the sentence
on the facts of the case and not
“public opinion.”
“The sentence is not based
on his emotion or sympathy.
But at the same time, I want to
acknowledge the deep and tre-
mendous pain that all the fam-
ilies are feeling, especially the
Floyd family,” Cahill said. “You
have our sympathies and I ac-
knowledge and hear the pain
that you’re feeling.”
The killing on May 25, 2020,
captured on a gruesome Face-
book video, shook the nation
and forced a painful reckon-
ing on issues of race and police
brutality that continues to play
out across a divided America.
Chauvin’s conviction, a rarity
in a country roiled by multiple
high-profile cases of Black peo-
ple being killed by police, was
praised by Floyd’s family and
activists as a historic moment
of justice and a potential sign
of change.
Before the sentencing, the
court heard victim impact
statements from four members
of Floyd’s family, including the
man’s 7-year-old daughter, Gi-
anna, who in a small, singsong
voice spoke of how her daddy
used to help her brush her
teeth and play with her. “I miss
him,” she said.
A woman off-camera asked
Gianna Floyd if she wished her
father were still alive.
“Yeah, but he is,” Gianna
said.
“Through his spirit?” the
woman asked.
“Yes,” the little girl replied.
In the courtroom, Chauvin,
who sported a freshly shaved
head and wore a light gray
suit, appeared to watch the
video, occasionally blinking
Court TV via AP, pool
Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court
Friday in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
but otherwise unemotional. As
three other Floyd family mem-
bers approached a podium
inside the socially distanced
courtroom, the former offi-
cer turned his head to listen to
them speak but otherwise had
no reaction.
Brandon Williams, Floyd’s
nephew, asked the judge to
sentence Chauvin to the maxi-
mum punishment.
“Although Chauvin will be
sentenced today and spend
time in prison, he will have
the luxury of seeing his family
again, talking to them,” Wil-
liams told the court. The Floyd
family had been “robbed” of
that luxury, he said. “No more
birthday parties, no gradua-
tions, holiday gatherings . . .
No opportunities to simply say
I love you.”
‘What were you thinking?’
The family members were
not allowed to address Chau-
vin directly, but Floyd’s brother,
Terrence, looked toward the
former officer and posed ques-
tions that have flummoxed
even those who know Chau-
vin. “Why? What were you
thinking? What was going
through your head when you
had your knee or my brother’s
neck when you knew he posed
no threat anymore?” Terrence
Floyd said, as tears rolled down
his face.
Philonise Floyd, the man’s
younger brother who testi-
fied in the trial and who has
become the public face of the
family’s push for justice, told
the court of the anguish of
having to relive his brother’s
death again and again through
the video of his killing, of the
“nightmares” he had on a reg-
ular basis.
“I have had to sit through
each day of Derek Chauvin’s
trial and watch the video of
George dying for hours, over
and over again for an entire
year,” Philonise Floyd said. “I
had to relive George being tor-
tured to death every hour of
the day … not knowing what a
good night’s sleep is.”
Shortly before being sen-
tenced, Chauvin approached a
court lectern and spoke briefly,
offering his condolences to the
Floyd family. But he declined
to speak at length, citing other
“legal matters” he is facing. He
did not apologize for his role in
Floyd’s death.
“I do want to give my con-
dolences to the Floyd family,”
Chauvin said, briefly glancing
back toward Floyd’s siblings
and nephew. “There’s going to
be some other information in
the future that would be of in-
terest. And I hope things will
give you some peace of mind.”
Before Chauvin spoke, his
mother, Carolyn Pawlenty, ap-
pealed to Cahill on behalf of
her son, describing him as a
“selfless” public servant who
had always tried to help others.
She said prosecutors and the
media had depicted her son as
an “aggressive, heartless and
uncaring person . . . a racist.” “I
can tell you that is far from the
truth,” Pawlenty said. “My son
is a good man.”
She pleaded with Cahill to
consider a lesser sentence, ar-
guing if her son was sentenced
to a long prison term she and
her ex-husband, Chauvin’s fa-
ther, would likely die before
he is released from jail. “When
you sentence my son, you will
be sentencing me,” Pawlenty
said.
Both Pawlenty and Eric
Nelson, Chauvin’s attorney,
said the former officer had
played the events of May 25,
2020, over and over again in
his mind. Nelson, who said his
client had not been scheduled
to work that day but came in
because the department was
short staffed, said his client’s
brain was consumed by the
questions of “what if, what if,
what if.”
Chauvin’s sentence made
him only the second police
officer in Minnesota history
to be jailed for an on-duty
murder and one of less than a
dozen officers nationwide.
The Washington Post’s Mark Berman
contributed to this report.
STIMULUS MONEY
Lawmakers may adjourn without
refunding $300M in taxes from checks
MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Oregonians won’t get a re-
fund on $300 million in per-
sonal income taxes generated
by federal stimulus payments,
as the Legislature is set to con-
clude its 2021 regular session
or early Saturday without ad-
dressing the issue.
Early in the session, both
Democrats and Republicans
had expressed support for re-
solving the thorny situation
and returning the money to
roughly 900,000 Oregon tax-
payers. But the issue faded as
the session continued.
“It had all the appearances
of an easy, bipartisan bill. And
even as time went on, as the
state became more flush with
dollars, I thought for sure
now it’s not about keeping
the money,” said Sen. Dick
Anderson, R-Lincoln City,
who introduced a bill early in
the session to refund the tax
money. “For heaven’s sake,
we’ve got more than we need.
I don’t know what else we
could have done.”
On average, Oregonians
who received stimulus pay-
ments owed an extra $333
in state taxes because of the
federal money. The specific
amounts varied considerably
based on personal tax situa-
tions, but taxpayers across the
income spectrum faced a hit.
It’s a complicated issue. The
stimulus payments — $1,800
in two installments last year,
and another $1,400 in March
— came in the form of a fed-
eral tax rebate that isn’t sub-
ject to state taxes.
Oregon, though, is one of
six states that allow taxpayers
to deduct a share of their fed-
eral tax bill from their state
tax obligations.
That’s a tax break most
of the time. But because the
stimulus payments were a tax
rebate, that meant Oregonians
had less to deduct from their
federal taxes — and therefore
a higher state tax bill.
Lawmakers acknowledged
Congress intended all the
stimulus money go directly
to the recipients, without a
tax hit. In February, U.S. Rep.
Peter DeFazio, D-Spring-
field, wrote to the Legislature’s
Democratic leadership urging
them to refund the tax money.
“This indirect tax will dis-
proportionately impact in-
dividuals earning between
$20,000 and $70,000 and fam-
ilies earning between $50,000
and $100,000 annually,” De-
Fazio wrote. “It is unconscio-
nable to ask those working
families who have struggled
the most during this crisis to
bear the weight of the state’s
budget shortfall.”
Submitted photo
Researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington found pieces of ancient obsidian in Lake Huron in
Michigan that originated in Central Oregon. Researchers believe the obsidian is the oldest and farthest east
the volcanic glass has ever been found in the United States.
Obsidian
Continued from A1
“You get excited and imme-
diately your scientific brain is
like, OK how did it get there?”
said Ashley Lemke, assistant
professor of sociology and an-
thropology at the University of
Texas at Arlington. “Now we
have some explaining to do.”
A laboratory confirmed the
obsidian flakes came from
Wagontire, a tiny unincorpo-
rated town in Harney County
about 130 miles east of Bend.
Central and Eastern Oregon
have an abundant amount of
obsidian, Lemke said.
She believes the flakes came
off a stone tool as it was sharp-
ened. The tool must have been
traded between hunters several
times over the past 9,000 years
and ended up in Michigan.
Obsidian was a popular ma-
Water
Continued from A1
About 60% of the city’s wa-
ter goes to irrigation, Den-
nings said.
Residents and businesses
can reduce water use by irri-
gating landscapes on even or
odd days based on house ad-
dress, eliminating runoff into
the street or sidewalk. The
city also suggests refraining
from extra water uses like fil-
ing pools or washing cars with
terial for people thousands of
years ago because it was easy
to make tools out of it, Lemke
said.
“Obsidian is special for ar-
chaeologists because we can
trace it, but it was really special
for people in the past because it
was super sharp,” Lemke said.
“Out of all the rocks you could
pick, obsidian is one of the
best. It was preferred by prehis-
toric people all over the world.”
Lemke and six other col-
leagues published a study last
month with their findings.
The research team has been
working at Lake Huron since
2009. They work on boats 50
miles off shore and use sonar
and divers to uncover the an-
cient civilizations that were
overtaken by water, similar to
how a volcano buried Pompeii,
Lemke said.
“No one has built anything
a hose.
The Bend Park & Recre-
ation District has already re-
duced water used for land-
scaping in parks by 15% and
has not turned on water play
features for the season, said
Julie Brown, the district’s com-
munications and community
relations manager.
For more information, visit
the city’s website at bendore-
gon.gov.
e
Reporter: 541-633-2160,
bvisser@bendbulletin.com
over these sites,” Lemke said.
“They haven’t been destroyed
by farm fields or big buildings.”
The team has discovered
stone structures, rooted trees
and a campfire still filled with
charcoal.
“That’s why we have been
working there for so long,”
Lemke said. “It’s not very easy,
but the amount and the kind of
data you can get is totally dif-
ferent than what you can get
on land.”
Lemke and her colleagues
plan to spend the summer con-
tinuing their research 100 feet
underwater. They hope to un-
cover more obsidian from the
sediment samples they collect.
“We are going to go and do
more samples,” Lemke said. “We
want to make sure if there is
more we are going to get it all.”
e
Reporter: 541-617-7820,
kspurr@bendbulletin.com
Death toll in Florida collapse rises to 4
BY TERRY SPENCER AND
ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
The Associated Press
SURFSIDE, Fla. — With
nearly 160 people unac-
counted for and at least four
dead after a seaside condo-
minium tower collapsed into
a smoldering heap of twisted
metal and concrete, rescuers
used both heavy equipment
and their own hands to comb
through the wreckage on Fri-
day in an increasingly desper-
ate search for survivors.
As scores of firefighters in
Surfside, just north of Miami,
toiled to locate and reach any-
one still alive in the remains of
the 12-story Champlain Tow-
ers South, hopes rested on how
quickly crews using dogs and
microphones could complete
their grim, yet delicate task.
“Any time that we hear a
541.480.8130
louie@louiehoffman.com
“Catch My Drift”
Louie Hoffman, CCIM
Principal Broker, Licensed in Oregon
SRES, Senior Real Estate Specialist
Proudly Serving Central Oregon Real Estate
Communities for 29 Years
%(1'_5('021'
Gerald Herbert/AP
Rescue crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South
Condo in Surfside., Florida.
sound, we concentrate in that
area,” Miami-Dade Assistant
Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said.
“It could be just steel twist-
ing. It could be debris rain-
ing down, but not specifically
sounds of tapping or sounds
of a human voice.”
Officials said they still don’t
know exactly how many res-
idents or visitors were in the
building when it fell, but they
were trying to locate 159 peo-
ple who were considered un-
accounted for and may or
may not have been there.